186 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[December, 



and cut and deliver it to them in the pasture 

 fields, and 8iii)i)oso they are tlius practicing 

 the soiling system. At best this is bnt par- 

 tial soiling, and is not wliat is meant by the 

 soiling system in the hands of those who prac- 

 tice it methodically. 



Mnch of what I may say on this subject 

 will api)e:u- like quite elementary teaching 

 to those who are acquainted with it. It will 

 be that sort of teaching, because that is the 

 kind needed. Only a few know what the 

 soiling system is. Systematically applied, it 

 is a new and better method than the old, and 

 that it may be understood, the elementary 

 principles must be fu'st taught, as in develop- 

 ing any other methodical system. 



What should be understood by soiling cattle 

 is keeping them in the stable all the year 

 round, with short daily liberty in a yard simi- 

 lar to that which dairymen in our vicinity 

 give the cows in winter when not allowed the 

 liberty of the fields. Soiling cattle does not 

 contemplate or allow pasturage in the fields 

 at any season. There are a few dairymen in 

 Bucks county who practice the system in its 

 strict sense. But the number who practice it 

 in the partial way alluded to is large in this 

 and the adjoining counties. 



In the first place it wtll be proper to state 

 some of the principal attained facts developed 

 in the experience of practical dairymen who 

 have tried the system, a few of which are as 

 follows : 

 .1. It saves land. 



2. It saves fencing. 



3. It economizes food. 



4. The cattle are more comfortable and in 

 better condition. 



5. They give more milk. 



6. A large increase of manure. 



The only offset to these and other advant- 

 ages is the labor of raisin? and cutting the 

 food, and feeding and taking care of the stock. 



Tills additional labor is of the bugbear that 

 frightens farmers, and contemplation of it 

 makes coward.s of us all. Farmers generally 

 admit the advantages without argument, and 

 are deterred from giving the system a fair 

 trial through fear of the extra labor it in- 

 volves. But if the f'ai'mer can be reasonably 

 assured that such advantages as are claimed 

 can be realized, the enterprising dairyman 

 should no longer hesitate. 



The bare statement of the advantages with- 

 out argument or elaboration will not convince 

 doubters, or lead even those who admit them 

 to put them in practice. Let us see, then, 

 what can be said to substantiate the claims of 

 the advocates of soiling. 



It saves land. In relation to this claim all 

 experience proves it. The only difference 

 found is as to the amount of saving which 

 results. These differences probably arise from 

 variations in the quality of the land and its 

 ability to sustain heavy pasturage. Again, 

 lands used for soiling may be differently culti- 

 vated. It is evident that the amount of food 

 raised on an acre of enriched and mowed pas- 

 ture, and an acre devoted to cultivated crops, 

 must be quite different, and will account for 

 the dilTerences in estimates given of the sav- 

 ing of land. In any case the economy is suffi- 

 ciently great and should be decisive to the 

 mind of any reasonable man. 



Properly enriched and cultivated land will 



produce two or more soiling crops in a year,and 

 thus greatly increase the amount of food it will 

 yield. Those who practice but the partial 

 soiling method see at once what an increased 

 amount of food can be raised on a small sur- 

 face. Some assert that the saving is as three 

 to one ; others as five to one, and some go 

 even farther and assert that one acre kept for 

 soiling will go as far as three, five, or more 

 kept for pasture. For all practical purposes 

 the testimony is sufflcient that on all farms 

 where the land is arable, the economy of sur- 

 face gained by soiling is very great. 



The saving of land will allow more stock to 

 be kept or more feed to be raised and less to 

 be bought. If no more stock be kept, they 

 may be kept on half the ju-oduct of the farm, 

 and the other half may be sold. The farmer 

 therefore has his choice to increase his stock, 

 or sell half his crops. The farmer who now 

 keeps, say ten cows, and pastures his land to 

 death, can, by the soiling .system, keep the 

 ten cows better ou ten acres than he now 

 keeps them on- his whole farm, and raise bet- 

 ter crops on the remaining land. Farmers 

 who think they have not land enough would 

 find that the economy of land secured by the 

 soiling system would practically treble or 

 quadruple the size of their holdings. This is 

 the experience of all who hiive tried the 

 methods, and this kind of experience has 

 been so uniform that it cannot be doubted. 

 The average farmer, therefore, has it in hfs 

 power at his option to increase the area and 

 productiveness of his farm by the adoption of 

 the soiling system, and by thus ecQuomizing 

 his surface, save land. — A. M. B., Boyles- 

 town, Pa., in Weekly Press. 



SMOKE-HOUSE AT SMALL EXPENSE. 



Every farm should count among its out- 

 houses a good smoke-house. The necessity 

 for such a house is too obvious to call for ar- 

 gument in its favor. When the farm is a 

 small one, and the meat produced thereon is 

 for home consumption only, a large and elab- 

 orate smoke-house is, however, not required ; 

 in fact, a cheap one serves every purpose, and 

 when meats, are to be smoked in a small way 

 an expensive building is a needless extrava- 

 gance. 



The object in smoking meat is to expose 

 the meats to the action of creosote and the 

 vapors resulting from smouldering wood. 

 This is done not only to gain sundry flavors 

 imparted by the smoke, but to gain the pre- 

 servative principle given by the creosote. All 

 that is necessary to bring this about is space 

 enough in which to hang meat, that can be 

 filled with smoke and shut up tight, with 

 conveniences for suspending the pieces to be 

 cured. In some smoke-houses the fire is 

 made in the centre of the house on a stone 

 slab ; in others the fire is placed in a pit in 

 the ground about one foot deep ; again the 

 fire oven is built outside the smoke-house. 



The very cheapest form of smoke-house is 

 what is termed the hogshead or cask-house. 

 This is made, as the name suggests, of a hogs- 

 head or large cask. It is familiar to old read- 

 ers, but is again described for the benefit of 

 beginners who have no dollars to spend on 

 the construction of a regular house. First, 

 dig a small pit ; place a flat stone or a brick 

 across it, upon which the edge of the cask can 



rest. This pit ought to be aljout one foot 

 deep and nearly one foot wide, and say three 

 feet long. Ilemove both head and bottom of 

 the cask. Pass two cross-bars through holes 

 bored in the sides of the cask near the top ; 

 upon these rest cross sticks from which the 

 hams are suspended. Then replace the head 

 of the cask and cover with sacks to confine 

 the smoke. Set the cask so that half the 

 pit will be beneath it and half of it outside. 

 Place some live coals in that portion of the pit 

 outside of the cask and feed this fire with 

 damp corn cobs or hardwood chips. The pit 

 must now l)e covered with a flat stone, by 

 which the fire may be regulated and may be 

 removed when necessary to add more fuel. 

 This .ire must, of course, burn slowly so as to 

 produce smoke and not flame. 



When a larger house is required then a cask 

 affords, this may be constructed of wood or 

 bricks, as best suits the convenience of the 

 builder. It is a wise plan to build the fire- 

 place of bricks, then there is no danger from 

 fire. A favorite plan is to have fire ovens of 

 brick built on each side of the house ; these 

 are constructed upou the outside, but space 

 left between the bricks on the inside, through 

 which the smoke escapes. The outer part of 

 the oven is open at the front, but may be 

 closed by an iron door or a piece of flat stone. 

 When the fire is kindled in these ovens 

 the doors are closed, and the smoke has 

 no means of escape except through the inside 

 spaces. Being so confined, the fire of neces- 

 sity slowly smoulders, making a steady smoke. 

 Smoke-houses with these outside fire ovens 

 ai'e very clean, there being no ashes inside. 

 The floors to such a house may be of cement 

 or of hard brick laid in cement or mortar. 

 These outside ovens, by the way, can be fitted 

 to any kind of a smoke-house by cutting the 

 necessary openings at the bottom of the walls 

 and protecting the wood work with strips of 

 sheet iron around the bricks. 



Meat, to be perfectly smoked, must be con- 

 tinually surrounded by smoke. produced from 

 material that imparts a pleasant odor. Corn 

 cobs and good hickory wood furnish admirable 

 material. While the smoke ought to be con- 

 tinuous the smoking process should not be 

 hastened to such a degree as to raise the tem- 

 perature sufliciently to make the fat ooze out 

 of the meat or prevent the creosote in the 

 smoke from thoroughly permeating it. In a 

 word, the fire must neither be permitted to 

 die out nor to blaze up. It is the slow com- 

 bustion of the wood that permits the escape 

 of most of the wood acids which impart their 

 flavor and antiseptic properties to the meat. 



Old smoke-houses should be thoroughly 

 cleaned previous to use, and the contrivances 

 from which meats are suspended looked after 

 and repaired to prevent their breaking down 

 and bringing the meat in contact with the fire 

 and ashes. 



THE SUGAR-BEET. 



The Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington appears to have ascertained that the 

 prizes of money offered by the Department to 

 stimulate the production of the sugar-beet 

 and Chinese sorghum in this country were 

 made without authority from Congress, and 

 were therefore illegal. Payments have, there- 



