Advantages of Soiling. 57 



and tramp, tramp, tramp, in search of sweets. If 

 you go into the same field and cut it as it comes, 

 with a scythe, and feed it to them in the barn, they 

 eat the good, the better, and the best, weeds and all, 

 and do well on it. To find that best and sweetest 

 mouthful, they have trampled as much as they will 

 eat. They have wasted a lot of energy that might 

 have been put to a better and more profitable use, 

 seeking it ; gone hungry, or next thing to it, be- 

 cause they could not find enough to fill their stom- 

 achs of the best, and come to the barn at night 

 weary and tired. Of all extravagant, wasteful hab- 

 its, the pasturing system has no equal. Tethering 

 is a great improvement in this respect, if the cattle 

 must go out. Tethering will be discussed more 

 fully later on. 



There are several ways in which farm stock de- 

 stroy their feed while at pasture, by tramping it un- 

 der foot, by their dung and urine, and by lying on 

 it. The more productive the pasture, the greater 

 the loss. Just how much is wasted by these means, 

 I do not know. Some estimate it at one-third, 

 others at a half. Another item of more or less im- 

 portance is that it is not so exhaustive of the soil to 

 grow a crop of hay from it as to use it as pasture, 

 especially if the grass of the pasture be closely 

 cropped, thus leaving the soil more exposed to the 

 sun. All these objections are overcome by soiling. 

 The food may be cut at just the proper time, when 

 the leaves and blossoms have reached their full de- 

 velopment. It is often noticed that, here and there 



