SOILING. 183 



of 1862. This will also illustrate what may be done with- 

 out much preparation, as the land set apart was mostly only 

 in ordinary farm condition. The animals to be fed were 20 

 steers, 3 and 4 years old, 8 cows and 6 horses. These were 

 regarded, in consuming capacity, as equal to 35 one- 

 thousand-pound cows. And 100 acres of land, thought to 

 be just sufficient to pasture these animals, were selected, 

 and the whole product either fed to this stock as green 

 food or stored by itself as hay. Ninety acres of this land 

 were in ordinary meadow (some clear timothy, some timo- 

 thy and June clover), five acres in excellent clover, two in 

 oats, and three in fodder-corn. These animals were fed 

 from May 20th to December 1st from this hundred acres, 

 with a surplus of 65 tons of hay, which sold in barn for 

 $972. An accurate account of the labor was kept it 

 requiring six hours' labor of one man, and two hours' of 

 one horse, per day; costing in those cheap times, $75. The 

 grass was cut by hitching a light wood mowing-machine 

 behind a one-horse cart, driving the horse around the plat 

 till sufficient was cut for a day's feed, raking and pitching 

 it on the cart, and taking to the barn where the animals 

 were fed. It required two cart-loads per day. 



This experiment made a stronger impression, from the 

 fact that good fat cattle were very low that year; and 

 after deducting the cost of putting hay in barn, $97.50, and 

 the labor of soiling, $75 making $172.50 a net gain was 

 left of $799.50; whilst the 20 steers, of 1,100 Ibs. average 

 weight, brought only $34 per head, or $680, although fat 

 showing a gain on the experiment of $119 more than the 

 whole value of the 20 steers, besides making 100 large loads 

 of rich manure, worth $100 more than the droppings would 

 have been on the field. The manure was regarded as a full 

 compensation for the labor of soiling, and more than 

 enough to pay for the extra labor of soiling over that of 

 pasturing; for the labor of repairing fences was saved, and 



