1 94 Soiling 



ply i,ooo lb. (or a full-grown cow). Thus, sheep 

 averaging' loo lb. would require each one-tenth of 

 that necessary for a cow, or, of oats and peas, one- 

 tenth of three-fourths square rod per day. This 

 estimate for sheep in the plan of feeding above de- 

 scribed may be reduced to at least half a square rod 

 per day for every i,ooo lb., as the sheep will obtain 

 part of their feed from the pasture; but this part 

 will, of course, depend upon the size of the pasture 

 and the fertility of the soil. My own experience in 

 soiling in this manner was in an old orchard con- 

 taining five acres, one acre of which was fenced 

 off as above described. This four acres of pasture 

 and one devoted to soiling crops kept twenty-four 

 head of large, long-wooled sheep, and twenty-two 

 lambs (fully equal to five head of i,ooo lb. each) 

 during the season. This leads to me to say that, 

 as a rule, for every i,ooo lb. it will require one 

 acre of land, one-fifth of which should be devoted 

 to soiling crops. It is safe to saji- that the five 

 acres, with one devoted to soiling crops, were equal 

 to ten pastured, or that one acre soiled is equal to 

 five pastured. The variety of the feed and the 

 shade made the sheep contented, and, better still, 

 they had all they could or would eat. 



Permanent Pasture. 



Another method of feeding is practised to some 

 extent in this country, i.e., soiling the sheep in con- 

 nection with a permanent pasture. One acre of 



