No. 1. 



Coai Dust. 



Vc'i 



practice of cutting were adopted." If tlie 

 consumption of plants is an object, that object 

 is obtained by soiiino^, for all who have paid 

 attention to the subject must have observed 

 that cattle will readily eat plants cut, and 

 |riven to them when housed, which they would 

 <iiscanl ill the pasture ; yet, according to the 

 authority above quoted, it is known tiiat they 

 will eat food, when thrown to them on the 

 ground, which they will reject when given in 

 the stall. Many of the grasses which are 

 sweet and succulent when younj, and which 

 -cattle eat with the greatest avidity, are quite 

 oti'ensive when suffered to get into ear, and are 

 thereby lost ; but by this system of cutting, no 

 loss can occur from this quarter. Plants reject- 

 ed by one class of animals, when presented to 

 them, even when housed, are not on that ac- 

 ■coant less acceptable to others ; indeed they ap- 

 pear to be eaten with greater avidity. " 'I'lius 

 grass, or other food, that has been hloioir or 

 breathed upon by any animal for a consider- 

 able time, becomes unpleasant to other beasts 

 of the same species, but not so to stock of 

 another class or variety ; for them, indeed, it 

 appears to acquire ahiirher relish." 



Id. It is contended by the friends of the 

 cutting system that the balance, so far as re- 

 gards the health end comfort of cattle, is de- 

 cidedly in its i'avor over that of pasturing. — 

 Cattle are not only less liable to accidents, 

 but do not sutler the same inconveniences or 

 •annoyances to which they are subject when 

 ■e.tposed to the sun in the open air — they suf- 

 fer much less from heat, flies, &c., and it is 

 perfectly reasonable to 5«ppose that they take 

 on flesh more readily. Tranquility and ease 

 are essential ; otherwise animals cannot thrive. 

 An instance in point was cited byono of your 

 correspondents, (see Cab. Vol. ii. page SOo,) 

 from which it appears that animals housed for 

 fattening, and well fed, did not take on fat, 

 owing to the circumstance of their becoming! 

 lousy, in consequence of fowls roosting over 

 them. The reason why they did not thrive is 

 obvious — when cleansed of the vermin they 

 fattened well. Heat, restlessness, the terri- 

 ble annoyance of flies,. &c., when cattle are 

 exposed, as they must frequently be in pas- 

 tures, operate against them. 



IV. The Complete Grazier asserts that the 

 proportioned increase of manure obtained by 

 soiling and stall feeding abundantly evince 

 their superiority over pasturing. "Manure 

 is the life and soul of husbandry ; and when 

 tillage is an object of attention, there can be 

 no comparison between the two modes of con- 

 Bumption, especially in regard to manure ob- 

 tained by soiling live stock during summer 

 with green food, for in consequence of the in- 

 creased discharge of urine during that season, 

 the litter, of whatever substance it may con- 

 sist, is speedily converted into dung." — p. 81. 



Nicholson, in his Farmers' A-ssistant, refer* 

 to a communication from Dr. Thaer, of Han- 

 over, detailing the result of the experience 

 of Baron de Bulow, and others : He lays dowa 

 the following as facts, which he says, are in- 

 controvertible. 



I. .\ spot "f firdiiiul, which, whiti iiristiircd, wilt yi^'Id 

 only siiltiricnt food fi)r";if hcnd, will aliundaiitly iii;iiri- 

 taiii/o//r when left in tho slahli'. 



■-'. .Soilinj; affords at least double the (jiLTntity of ma- 

 nure froin the same nuniher of cattle : for the best sum- 

 mer manure is produced in the stable, and carriod to 

 the fields at the most proper period of its R'nnentation; 

 whereas, when dropl on the meadow, and exposed to 

 Ihoaction of the air and sun, its power is much wasted. 



:*, Cows wliich are accust(uiied to soiling, will yieitt 

 much more milk, when kept in this manm-r, and fal- 

 tening cattle will increase much faster in weight. 



4. Thoy are less subject to accidents and diseases — 

 they are protfirted from the flies which torment them 

 in the fields during tho wTirrn weather; and they do not 

 suffer from the heat of summer. 



Many other advantages are enumerated. — 

 Grazing also has its advantages. E.xperiments, 

 however, render it certain that soiling, under 

 favorable circumstances, is the most profitable. 

 The Hon. Josiah Quincy, of Massachus- 

 etts, ascertained about 1820, that seventeen 

 acres of land, under the soiling system, sup- 

 ported as much stock, and in as good, if not 

 better condition, as had previously required 

 fifty; and Sinclair states, that thirty-three 

 head of cattle were soiled from the 20th of 

 May to the first of October, 1815, on seventeen 

 acres and a half, of which fifty were neces- 

 sary in pasture. The saving of land was 

 consequently thirty-tioo and a half acres. — 

 From my own experience and observation, I 

 am fully satisfied that there is no mode by 

 which cultivated gra.sses will pay so well as 

 by soiling. With us Jersey farmers, who can 

 so readily derive the great advantage of top- 

 dressing by marl, lime, &c.,it is nevertheless 

 an object to turn all to the best account. 



T. D. 



Burlington Co., July 23d, 1838. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 



Coal I>\\^t. 



Whether the ashes of Anthracite coal have 

 any perceptible fertilizing property or not, 

 seems to be uncertain. My own experience 

 satisfies me in the affirmative. But I have 

 never seen any notice of the use of coal dust 

 as manure. The finest stalks of the poke- 

 weed (used and preferred here for early 

 greens, because it is most tender and juicy,^ 

 are found growing among the heaps of coaL 

 dirt about the mines. Its growth is most ra- 

 pid, and it blanches beautifully in such situa- 

 tions. Upon the heaps of coal dirt on the- 

 Philadelphia coal wharves, fine crops of oats 

 may be seen growing with extraordinary ra- 

 pidity without any soil. I am not ^a farmer, 

 but I can answer for its efficacy on a garden 

 made in this region; and for tb.e fact that 

 fruit trees which suflTered by iptsects in the 



