45 



the droppings fall. These are removed several times daily, and 

 the floor is sprinkled with a few shovelfuls of sand to keep it 

 sweet and clean as possible. The manure falls into a cellar, 

 where it is Avorked over by hogs, and mixed Avith dry loam to 

 absorb the urine. In order to have this dry material to compost 

 with, we have built a tight shed adjoining the stable, where, in 

 dry weather, is laid up enough loam to last several months. It 

 requires a much smaller quantity of dry than wet loam to absorb 

 the urine, and of course, the compost will be less " extended." 



As one chief object in soiling has been to increase the quantity 

 of manure for use on the farm, I have kept an account of what 

 we have made during the past six months — beginning in May — 

 from five cows, two horses and four hogs. The manure is all 

 made in one pen. We have carted out and have on hand twenty- 

 six cords of what we consider good manure — valued at five dollars 

 per cord. This is at the rate of just one cord per week from May 

 to November. Two-fifths of a cord were used in July for a 

 second crop of corn fodder. Seven cords were used for rye in 

 September, and the remainder we are now ploughing in for a crop 

 of corn next year — thus getting a good part of spring's work done 

 in the foil, which could not be done if, as formerly, we depended 

 only on our winter's stock of manure for the next summer's crop. 



A. W. Cheever. 

 Wre7itha7n, Nov. 21, 1861. 



[From the New England Farmer.] 



SOILING COWS. 



Mr. Editor, — In the summer of 1860 I attempted to ascertain 

 the amount of extra labor it would take on a common farm to soil, 

 or stall-feed, a small herd of cows ; but finding it difficult to sep- 

 arate that labor every day from the ordinary labor of the farm, I 

 was obliged to content myself with noting the time occupied on a 

 few days on difterent seasons, and under different circumstances, 

 as to the luxuriance of the feed to be cut, and so estimate the 

 average time. I kept eight cows through the summer. In June 

 and July, two and a halt hours a day Avere sufficient for getting 

 the feed to the barn, giving it out to the cows, watering them, and 

 managing the compost heap. In August, three hours a day ; and 

 in September, owing to the partial failure of some crops sown for 

 use at that time, it took about four hours. The crops which failed 

 to do as well as was expected were oats and millet. My favorite 

 crop for the summer feed of milch cows, after several years' ex- 

 perience, and trying a variety, is clover. Like all other plants, 



