No. ?. 



Soiling. 



225 



proved the adaptation of our soil and cli- 

 mate to this important branch of husbandry 

 — and is found as lucrative as any other 

 branch of agriculture. I am informed by 

 a pretty extensive wool grower in my 

 neighbourhood from Washington county, Pa., 

 that his sheep are not subject to many of the 

 diseases here, that they were in Pa. 



I do not think it probable that the eastern 

 wool grower upon land worth $50 to $100 

 per acre, and hay worth $15 per ton, could 

 successfully compete with the western, where 

 land is worth $5 per acre, and hay $2.50 

 per ton. 



We are only in the first year of our ex- 

 istence as a state, and the fourteenth as the 

 inhabitant of a white man — still our po- 

 pulation numbers between 150 and 200,000 

 inhabitants, a greater portion of them from 

 the New England and middle states; they 

 are probably as well informed, and as indus- 

 trious as the same number in any of our sis- 

 ter states ; and all that we want to make us 

 prosperous and happy, is the communication 

 before spoken of with the east. 



The health of Iowa, off the water courses, 

 is as good as in any other state. On the 

 water courses, we, like all the west, are sub- 

 ject to fever and ague. 



The ease with which we cultivate our 

 prairie farms, would astonish our New Eng- 

 land farmers. They would hardly believe 

 that one man with a pair of horses, could 

 cultivate forty-five acres of land in corn, 

 and do it well ; but this is not an uncommon 

 occurrence. 



We can raise 500 bushels of potatoes to 

 the acre with no other work than to plough 

 them twice or thrice, with the shovel plough 

 after they are planted, that is, without the 

 use of manure or hoe. 



The shovel plough is the only tool used 

 in the after culture of corn, and an average 

 crop is from forty to sixty bushels per acre ; 

 besides, our corn fields are generally so well 

 lined with pumpkins in the fall, that a man 

 can walk on them all over his corn field. 



I may add that I raised the last season 150 

 bushels of potatoes from two bushels, planted 

 in one corner of my corn field, without ma- 

 nure or the use of the hoe. — J. A. Pinto. 

 Hartford, Iowa, Dec. 13, 1847. 



Soiling. 



By R. L. Peil, Pelham Farm, Ulster county. 



For the last four years it has been my con 

 stant practice to soil, not only cows, but hogs, 

 oxen, and horses. My yards are large, en 

 closed by stone walls, and so arranged as to 

 collect all the manure in the centre. There 

 is a pump and trough convenient to it, and 



open sheds where the animals may lie and 

 ruminate at pleasure. Three times each 

 day, at stated hours, green crops are cut and 

 brought to them, such as clover and timothy 

 grass, green oats, green corn stalks, green 

 buckwheat in blcom, root tops, &c. Occa- 

 sionally, by way of change, dry hay and 

 straw are cut up and given to them, mixed 

 with sufficient wheat bran to induce them to 

 relish it. The stock are never permitted to 

 waste anything ; that left by the cows is 

 given to the horses, as horses will eat after 

 cows, and vice versa, cows after horses ; but 

 they will not eat after each other. The 

 leavings of the horses is then fed to the hogs. 

 The animals are enabled to consume their 

 quantum in about thirty minutes, when they 

 immediately lie down, rest, take on fat, and 

 secrete milk. If pastured, they require 

 many hours to obtain the requisite food, be- 

 sides laboring diligently, which has a ten- 

 dency to prevent the secretions, either of 

 fat or milk. They have but little time to 

 ruminate ; and when driven to and from 

 pasture, run wildly about the field; are 

 whipped, stoned, and chased by dogs, which 

 causes them to become feverish, and as a re- 

 sult, contract their milk vessels. 



Salt should always be within reach of the 

 animals in the yard, as it is indispensable to 

 keep the organs of digestion active, increase 

 the milk and growth of fat; and it much im- 

 proves the quality of the flesh. 



I have found, by actual experiment, that 

 cows, when fed in the yard at regular pe- 

 riods, with a change of food, not allowing 

 them at any time to be overfed, and supplied 

 at all times with an abundance of water, 

 have doubled their milk ; that is to say, the 

 same cows that were one year depastured 

 gave, when confined, twice the quantity of 

 milk, and of a much richer quality. When 

 depastured, I did not obtain a particle of 

 manure; it was dropped upon the soil, cer- 

 tainly, but with very little advantage to it ; 

 nearly all the volatile gases were immedi- 

 ately given to the atmosphere, and many of 

 its other valuable properties were withdrawn 

 from it by flies; so that the soil received but 

 little benefit. One of the principal and most 

 valuable ingredients in manure is ammonia, 

 which is converted to a volatile substance in 

 farm-yard manure, called nitrogen, and ia, 

 of all others, the fertilizer that must, if pos- 

 sible, be saved, as neither seeds nor plants 

 can be produced without it. The manure 

 dropped in the field is deprived immediately 

 of this indispensable gas. The potash and 

 soda also being easily dissolved by water, 

 are likewise practically lost, by being depo- 

 sited in excess. In the barnyard these va- 

 luable substances may be preserved by means 



