ECONOMY OF LAND. 143 



mown for them ; with green Indian-corn fodder, which 

 had been sown broadcast for the purpose ; and with 

 about three pints of meal a day. Their produce in but- 

 ter was kept for thirteen weeks. Two of them were 

 but two years old, having calved the same spring. All 

 the milk of one of them was taken by her calf six 

 weeks out of the thirteen, and some of the milk of the 

 other was taken for family use, the quantity of which 

 was not measured. These heifers could not be esti- 

 mated, therefore, as more than equal to one cow in full 

 milk. And yet from these cows no less than three 

 hundred and eighty-nine pounds of butter were made in 

 the thirteen weeks. Another pound would have made 

 an average of thirty pounds a week for the whole time. 



It appears from these, and other similar instances of 

 successful soiling, or stall-feeding in summer on green 

 crops cut for the purpose, that the largely increased 

 quantity of the yield fully counterbalances the slightly 

 deteriorated quality. And not only is the quantity 

 yielded by each cow increased, but the same extent of 

 land, under good culture, will carry double or treble the 

 number of ordinary pastures, and keep them in better 

 condition. There is also a saving of manure. But with 

 us the economy of soiling is the exception, and not the 

 rule. 



In adopting this system of feeding, regularity is 

 required as much as in any other, and a proper variety 

 of food. A succession of green crops should be 

 provided, as near as convenient to the stable. The 

 first will naturally be winter rye, in the Northern 

 States, as that shoots up with great luxuriance. Win- 

 ter rape would probably be an exceedingly valuable 

 addition to the plants usually cultivated for soiling 

 in this country, in sections where it withstands the 

 severity of the winter. Cabbages kept in the cellar, or 



