174 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



4. SAVING MANUBE. 



One important object of stock-keeping is the production 

 of manure to keep up the fertility of the land. It is there- 

 fore of the first moment that the manure should be all 

 saved. In pasture more than half of the value of the 

 manure is lost. It is evaporated by the sun, runs into the 

 streams, so that the result is fortunate if half remains to 

 enrich the soil. Josiah Quincy found that his cows made, 

 in soiling, one load of manure each per month, which he 

 estimated worth $1.50 per load, or $9 per cow for the six 

 soiling months. Prof. J. P. W. Johnston states that in 

 Flanders the liquid and solid manure from a cow is valued 

 at $20 per year. And at this rate, soiling for six months 

 would save $5 per cow, if only 'half her manure were 

 counted. Mr. Quincy says the saving in manure will pay 

 all the labor of soiling. It is easy to preserve all the 

 manure in the best manner under this system, and it can 

 be applied just where and when needed. Prom personal 

 experience of more than twenty years, the writer regards 

 the saving in manure as worth at least $6 per cow over 

 that of pasture, and he fully agrees with Mr. Quincy that it 

 is a full compensation for all the labor, direct and indirect, 

 in soiling. 



5. EFFECT UPON HEALTH AND CONDITION. 

 Almost the first question is, " But are your animals 

 healthy?" This question is no doubt prompted by the 

 supposition that strict confinement is necessary. Yet soil- 

 ing may be practiced with such exercise for the animal as 

 the feeder chooses. And as animals are soiled with the 

 same food, or with as good as they would get in pasture, why 

 should they not be healthy ? Is it unhealthy for cows or 

 steers to eat sweet clover in the cool stall ? We have had 

 cows soiled for fourteen consecutive years. We have raised 

 many colts under this system, giving them a runway for 



