ECONOMY OF SOILING. 103 



these, which we may call condiments, but the main articles, the cut hay 

 and the crushed roots, are used about in the proportion of a cart load, or 

 thirty bushels, of the roots, to a ton of the provender. It is then 

 thrown in a heap on the barn floor and allowed to ferment enough to 

 make it slightly warm, as I find it is a great advantage to give warm 

 feed to milch cows in the winter. The quantity given to each cow of 

 average size is a common bushel basket full twice a day, unless she is 

 in full milk, when she is allowed a little more as may be thought 

 necessary. At midday I give them hay after they have been watered 

 in their stalls, the water being slightly warmed, as I find that if permitted 

 to drink cold water, the change would make a loss of several pounds of 

 milk per day with each cow. Practically this may be found difficult 

 or inconvenient upon farms, which are not well provided with the 

 facilities for warming the water. In such cases, however, it may be 

 quite easy to take care that the water troughs are kept free from ice 

 or snow in the winter season, and to give the cows only water that is 

 fresh drawn from a well or a cistern. The troughs should be emptied 

 as soon as the cattle are watered, by means of a hole in the bottom, 

 stopped with a plug, and covers provided for them to prevent them 

 becoming filled with snow. Well water is rarely colder than fifty or 

 forty-five degrees, and this temperature is not injurious. 



(Mr. H. ) I have heard objections made to this practice of soiling 

 by some persons, on account of the extra labor involved in it. I can- 

 not see it in that light. I have been told, on the other hand, that 

 this extra labor is by no means so great as some think it to be, 

 especially when a well arranged system is practiced. For instance, 

 take a farm where thirty cows are kept. Each feed amounts to forty 

 pounds for each cow that is, 1,200 pounds in all which is a 

 moderate load for one horse. A smart boy or a man takes a team and 

 wagon to the field. A mowing machine is kept there. This I would 

 say should be covered with a waterproof sheet when not in use. The 

 horses are put to the mower and the fodder is cut. One, two or even 

 three feeds ahead may be cut, to provide against rainy days. The 

 load cut on the previous evening is loaded, and hauled to the barn. 

 This is the work of an hour or perhaps more, but certainly not two. 

 The wagon is drawn into the feeding passage and the load thrown off, 

 or it may be put directly into the feeding racks, but it is preferable 

 to have one or two feeds ahead in the barn. In this way half the 

 time of a man might be taken up daily in getting the feed for thirty 

 cows. The rest of his time may be profitably taken up in caring for 

 them in other ways, and in caring for the manure. This will cost 

 about three cents a day for each cow. The saving in manure will 

 pay that, while the saving in the feed will pay even more. For 



