^^ERICAN HERD-BOOTi 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture is the true foundation of all trade and industry. — Libbio. 



Vol. XI.— No. 5.] 



12th mo. (December) 15th, 1846. 



[AVhole No. 143. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY JOSIAH TATUM, 



EDITOR AND PROPUIETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year.— Forconditions see last page. 



Soiling, or House-feeding. 



We have from time to time drawn liberally from the 

 various No's, of Colman's Tour. In the Cabinet for 

 Tenth month last, we gave an extract on the above 

 subject, and now offer to our readers, or such of them 

 as do not take the work, still further remarks and 

 statements in relation to it. From some cause or an- 

 other, soiling has not succeeded, or been ailopted per- 

 manently, to much extent in this vicinity: and no 

 doubt there are sufficient reasons why it has not been. 

 We are entirely of the mind that it should not be lost 

 sight of, or be looked upon as entirely abandoned. 

 Every farmer must judge for himself, and form his 

 conclusions or adopt a practice accordingly. The edi- 

 tor does not doubt but there maybe situations and cir- 

 cumstances that would with judicious management, 

 render the plan highly advantageous. 



There is an e.xpression in the following extract that 

 we must ask leave to repeat here. " TTie moving spring 

 <lf every farmer's success is his manure heap." — Ed. 



I HAVE seen several instances of soiling 

 in this country; but with the exception of 

 large milk establishments in the towns, and 



Cab.— Vol. XL— No. 5. 



one or two large farms in the country, they 

 have been upon rather a restricted scale. I 

 have said tliat horses are almost universally 

 soiled; the same may be said of much of the 

 fat stock, which is in preparation for an early 

 market, and especially for the agricultural 

 shows. Fatting sheep in England, are gen- 

 erally folded, and in most cases the feed is 

 cut or pulled for them, and they are fed from 

 mangers or troughs. Other stock is gene- 

 rally grazed, as with us. Indeed, in parts 

 of the country, especially in Scotland and 

 Ireland, there is a large portion of the coun- 

 try which does not admit of, or would not 

 pay the expense of cultivation, and this is 

 devoted to grazing, as the only beneficial 

 use to which it can be applied. 



I am bound to say that soiling is not uni- 

 versally approved. Mr. Stephens, the emi- 

 nent author of the Book of the Farm, says 

 that he has tried twice the experiment of 

 soiling his horses, but failed in both cases; 

 at one time for want of cutting grass, the 

 second cutting having entirely failed that 

 year; and the other time, for want of straw 

 for litter, until the arrival of the new crop. 

 The latter reason seems to me about as ap- 

 propriate and valid an objection against soil- 

 ing, as it would be to have said that his ex- 

 periment of soiling failed because he had 

 no stalls in which to tie his cattle, and no 

 troughs from which to feed them. Litter is 

 indispensable in order to reap from soiling 

 all the advantages which it may afford in 

 the production of manure; but it is difficult 



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