SOILING. 171 



one cow 200 days. A good crop of green corn will weigh 

 from 40,000 Ibs. to 60,000 Ibs., and furnish food for a 

 cow for 333 to 500 days. A neighbor of the author meas- 

 ured, accurately, one acre of field corn (grain in the milk) 

 and fed to 104 cows (of an average estimated weight of 900 

 Ibs.), and it gave full feed for four days, or feed for one cow 

 416 days. These cows were in milk, and yielded liberally 

 on this ration. 



It is not meant that green corn fodder furnishes a com- 

 plete ration for a cow, but that if it were a complete food, 

 the quantity would be sufficient for the time mentioned. 

 The last experiment, feeding corn when the ear is in thick 

 milk, furnishes a ration that would do very well for a 

 month. 



It will be seen that one acre in these crops represents 

 about four acres under the ordinary system, or three acres 

 of pasture and one acre of meadow. And there are many 

 other crops producing as large an amount of cattle food. 

 As the fences are dispensed with, the land they occupy on 

 a 300-acre farm is at least five acres and this, in good con- 

 dition for soiling crops, would feed 10 cows through the 

 pasturing season. 



2. SAVING FENCES. 



This is an item that should be carefully estimated, as it 

 is one of the heaviest burdens of agriculture. Fences are 

 needed only to restrain stock; and if stock is not pastured 

 no fences are needed, except for yards, and perhaps a lane 

 to lead the cattle to the wood lot for simple exercise. Take 

 the fact of fencing 90 acres into four fields, for pasturing 

 30 cows or cattle. These fields would be 22K acres, and 

 would require 720 rods of fence. Now, if this fence cost 

 one dollar per rod, and if we suppose it to last 20 years, 

 then the decay will amount to 5 per cent, per year, and the 

 labor of annual repair is generally estimated at 5 per cent. 



