182 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



preparation of the land to be used for soiling must be thor- 

 ough, in order that full crops may be raised, and as large 

 an amount of food produced to the acre as possible; for it 

 will cost less labor to gather and cart 2,000 Ibs. of green 

 clover from 16 than from 30 to 40 rods, or the same 

 amount of green corn from 5 or 6 rods than 15 rods. The 

 real point in the preparation of the soil for a good crop be- 

 longs rather to the question of good farming than to soiling. 

 The endeavor should be to raise large crops for their profit, 

 under whatever system they may be used; and, if the land 

 is in a proper condition for a good crop of corn, millet, 

 oats, rye, clover, etc-., then it will require no special prepa- 

 ration for such soiling crop; and a farmer should not con- 

 sider a system that requires him to raise good crops as 

 objectionable. The legitimate labor of soiling, in fitting 

 and seeding an acre to rye, oats, peas, corn, millet, etc., 

 when these crops are raised for that purpose, may be esti- 

 mated at $4, but this is twice or thrice repaid by the extra 

 value of the crop over an acre of pasture. 



Secondly, the labor required to cut and haul the green 

 crop to the animals, and feed it out, is, no doubt, greatly 

 exaggerated in the minds of those who consider it theoreti- 

 cally. The cost per animal will necessarily depend some- 

 what upon their number the labor of attending a small 

 number must be greater in proportion than a large num- 

 ber; but that is the case under any mode of keeping. It 

 costs more in proportion to fence a pasture for five animals 

 than fifty. The smaller the lot, the larger proportion of 

 fence per acre. All small farms labor under this disadvan- 

 tage, and, in soiling, the labor will be more in proportion ; 

 but the large addition to the animals that may be kept by 

 soiling will lead small farmers before large ones to adopt it. 



AN EXPERIMENT. We can give, perhaps, the best idea 

 of the labor required to soil a moderate number of animals 

 in relating an experiment by the author during the season 



