NORFOLK SOCIETY. 457 



grow short, and the annoyance of heat and flies commences, 

 all the advantage is transferred to stall feeding. By com- 

 parison of the result of my milk produced, with that of my 

 neighbors, taking both parts of the summer season together, 

 I am entirely satisfied that the product, by well-conducted 

 " soiling," is greatly in favor of this process. 



6. As to the great increase in the quantity and quality of 

 the manure, there can be possibly no question on the subject. 

 Proper receptacles for this article being provided, free from 

 rain and the sun, into which the stale from the cattle may 

 be also received, the quantity and increased value of the 

 manure thus kept, is, according to my experience, a full 

 equivalent for all the labor and expense of raising, cutting, 

 and bringing in the food, feeding, currying and other care of 

 the cattle. No farmer need be told of the importance and 

 absolute necessity of manure for successful farming, and to 

 those who have not the means of purchasing that article, the 

 mode of "soiling" is of all others the most certainly produc- 

 tive of it, both in quantity and quality. 



As to " my practice," in soiling, it relates, 1st. To the 

 quantity of land to be cultivated for the purpose of preparing 

 succulent food ; 2d. To the particular articles to be thus cul- 

 tivated, and 3d. To the times they are to be sown, so as to 

 effect a regular succession of such food. 



1. As to the quantity of land to be cultivated. According 

 to my experience, one square rod of land, of rich loam in high 

 tilth in grass, oats, barley, or Indian corn, is enough for the 

 support of a cow a day, if cut and delivered to her in the 

 barn. As, however, there is a great difference in the state of 

 land and in its productive power, and as it is important there 

 should be no failure in succulent food, my practice has been 

 to cultivate one and a half square rods of land per day for 

 each head of cattle I intend to " soil." And on this basis I 

 make my calculations in the spring of the year ; for the quan- 

 tity to be sown, at every succeeding period, when to secure 

 a regular succession of such food, a new sowing is, required. 

 To make this calculation sufficiently exact, the length of time 

 it will take the article sown to come to maturity so as to be 

 fit to cut, and the length of time it will afterwards continue 

 succulent, are to be considered. The time it comes to such 

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