SOILING. 



into excellent manure, and the land 

 kept in a state of fertility. 



'• In proportion a.s a farm is larger 

 in extent, so the expense of soiling 

 increases, both from the distance of 

 the fields where the green crops 

 grow, and from the same distance 

 to which the dung is to be carted. 

 There is a limit, therefore, to the 

 soiling system, unless there be many 

 yards or stables in different parts of 

 a farm, so as to subdivide it, and 

 make each yard the centre of a dis- 

 tinct system of soiling, with fields 

 near at hand for the green crops. In 

 almost every experiment on a large 

 scale, it has been found that soiling 

 was only a certain mode of purchasing 

 dung, and that it often was more ex- 

 pensive to procure it in this way than 

 to send to a considerable distance to 

 purchase it in towns. Where it can- 

 not be purchased at all, there are no 

 other means, in many situations, of 

 producing a sufficient quantity ; and 

 the trouble and expense of soiling 

 must be submitted to. In almost ev- 

 ery case where sheep can be folded 

 to feed off the crops, the soiling of 

 cattle is a loss, because the sheep pay 

 something for their food-, the cattle 

 in the stall seldom do. 



" But there are animals which 

 must be fed for the work of the farm, 

 such as horses or oxen ; and these 

 are much more profitably and eco- 

 nomically fed by soiling than by any 

 other means. A horse or ox, if he 

 works eight or ten hours, has no time 

 for rest if he has to crop his food 

 from a short pasture, however ssveet ; 

 whereas an abundant supply of clo- 

 ver, lucern, or tares enables him to 

 take a hearty meal and lie down to 

 rest. He wants no corn with this 

 food, and does his work without los- 

 ing flesh or activity. 



"There is nothing easier in a mild 

 climate, and especially a moist one 

 like Britain or Ireland, than to have 

 a succession of green food from the 

 beginning of spring to the end of au- 

 tumn. Rye and winter barley, sown 

 early in autumn, will be ready to cut 

 as soon as the mild weather of spring 

 commences ; some sown later with 

 736 



winter tares, and the young clover, 

 which has not been cropped in au- 

 tumn, will succeed. After this come 

 artificial grasses, as Italian rye grass 

 and the grass of water meadows 

 mown early ; although this last is not 

 so hearty food for working cattle ; 

 but when joined to a mi.xture of oats 

 and cut straw, their watery nature is 

 corrected. Clover and spring tares 

 (when these can be raised at proper 

 intervals), lucern and sainfoin (if the 

 soil is suited to them), will afford a 

 constant and abundant supply to the 

 scythe which cuts the daily allowance. 

 It is prudent to provide against fail- 

 ure, and have more land in these crops 

 than is absolutely necessary, because 

 the surplus can always be made into 

 hay, or reserved to ripen its seed ; 

 and these green crops, valuable as 

 they are, far from, deteriorating the 

 soil, clear it of weeds, and render it 

 more fit to bear corn afterward. In 

 this case, soiling is profitable and 

 economical. 



" It is generally thought in those 

 countries where the soiling system is 

 most universally adopted, that it is 

 best to .-illow the green food to re- 

 main twelve or twenty-four hours af- 

 ter it is cut before it is given to cat- 

 tle. This may be prudent with cows 

 and oxen, who are apt to eat vora- 

 ciously, and are subject to be hoven 

 from the fermentations of the green 

 food in the paunch or rumen ; but for 

 horses tliere is little danger ; and if 

 the food is not wet with dew or rain, 

 the fresher it is eaten the better it 

 will nourish the animal, and the more 

 he will relish it. 



" If any one is desirous of calcula- 

 ting the expense of soiling any num- 

 ber of beasts, he has only to reckon 

 what time of men and horses it will 

 take to cut the food and carry it to 

 the cattle, from the average distance 

 of the fields in which it can be raised 

 in succession. Much of their time is 

 lost in the morning and evening in 

 going backward and forward from the 

 field to the yard ; for there can scarce- 

 ly be an establishment so large as to 

 keep them employed a whole day ; 

 and if there was, the fields must be 



