170 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



all the grass equally, and this plan is continued as often as 

 the grass grows sufficiently to afford a good bite, much of 

 the loss may be prevented. But under the best system of 

 pasturage, it will require three acres of pasture to furnish 

 as much food as one acre of good meadow. This, then, is 

 equal to a loss of two-thirds of the land pastured, if we 

 reckon only the absolute production. And if (as is usual) 

 one-third of the farm is in grain and meadow, and two- 

 thirds in pasture, then the loss on 66% acres f pasture, on 

 a hundred-acre farm, would amount to nearly 45 acres ; or, 

 in other words, the soiling system, on arable land, would 

 amount to a saving of 45 acres in 100, or 55 acres under 

 the soiling system would be equal to 100 under the pastur- 

 ing system. But those who have made practical compari- 

 sons, both in this country and in Europe, estimate the gain 

 in land greater than this. It has frequently been, estimated 

 that 50 acres, used under the soiling system, are equal to 

 125 acres under the pasturing system. 



Hon. Josiah Quincy, who soiled his stock for 18 years, 

 says : " One acre soiled from will produce at least as much 

 as three acres pastured in the usual way ; and there is no 

 proposition more true than that any good farmer may 

 maintain, upon 30 acres of good arable land, 20 head of 

 cattle the year round ;" and that he had " kept 20 head on 

 17 acres." I. D. Powell, of Winchester County, New 

 Jersey, keeps 100 cows on 100 acres. 



Let us test this by another mode of comparison. A full 

 crop of red clover will weigh, green, 20,000 Ibs. to the acre. 

 This would feed, in its green state, 20 cows, of 800 to 

 1,000 Ibs. weight, ten days, or one cow 200 days. This acre 

 would furnish, in the second and third cuttings, two-thirds 

 as much more, or in all, food for one cow through the year. 

 We have raised clover that weighed 24,000 Ibs. at a single 

 cutting, per acre. Millet or Hungarian grass will yield 

 about 16,000 to 20,000 Ibs. per acre, and furnish food for 



