FEEDING METHODS. 381 



The feeding of such green food on pasture- 

 land in the summer is an old custom and one 

 which has enjoyed a deserved popularity. There 

 are drawbacks to this system of soiling, but 

 these drawbacks are chiefly found where soil- 

 ing is carried to a great extreme and made the 

 exclusive method of feeding. Partial soiling 

 in conjunction with good grazing is one of the 

 best methods ever used to put stock in fine con- 

 dition. Few feeders of show cattle can be 

 found who have not been accustomed to resort 

 to cut ears of green corn, corn-fodder, sorghum, 

 or some similar crop. General soiling on rye, 

 clover, timothy, millet, peas, etc., etc., has not 

 been used to any great extent in this country 

 outside of city dairies or small farms where 

 grass is too scarce to carry the stock. There 

 is no doubt that soiling can be practiced very 

 effectively and economically where land is 

 dear. Its greatest drawback is the cost of 

 labor necessary to keep a crop always in 

 season. 



The great problem has been how to procure 

 green food in winter. Dairy cattle especially 

 require such a diet, and the milk flow suffers 

 for lack of it. The silo has been invented as a 

 solution of this problem with very considerable 

 success. The methods now in use took their 

 rise in the experiments of M. Gaffart, in France, 

 and he showed that soiling plants could be pre- 



