264 The Feeding of Animals 



of intensive practice. Under such circumstances the 

 wisdom of a soiling system is clearly indicated. 



In the first place, much more food is produced per 

 unit of area by soiling than by pasturage. Armsby 

 found that two soiling crops in one season, for instance, 

 rye followed by corn, yielded five times as much diges- 

 tible organic matter as pasture sod, when the whole 

 growth on the latter was plucked without waste, the 

 quantities being, respectively, 5.845 pounds and 1,125 

 pounds. It is variously estimated from observations 

 in practice, that three to five times as many animals 

 can be supported on a given area by soiling as by 

 grazing. 



Again, grazing is wasteful because of the imperfect 

 consumption of the growth that is made. Much grass 

 is tramped down and much is fouled with dung and 

 urine. These facts are well understood. Other advan- 

 tages besides economy of land and material pertain to 

 soiling, such as saving of fences, comfort of the ani- 

 mals and an increased supply of manure, but these 

 factors do not require discussion in this connection. 



Outside of considerations previously noted, produc- 

 tiveness especially, the dairy farmer in selecting soiling 

 crops must have regard chiefly to the number of ani- 

 mals to be fed, the time when the crops will be needed, 

 and the number of days required for their develop- 

 ment. If soiling is adopted in order to amend the 

 pasture during the late summer and early fall a lim- 

 ited number of crops will meet the demand. Three 

 sowings of peas and oats in late May and early June 

 and two plantings of corn, one at the usual time and 



