l6 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



for the live stock so fed. Even in the partial form, 

 increase in labor is considerable. In the complete 

 form, it is much greater ; and of course increase in 

 labor involves a corresponding increase in outla}^ 

 The increase in labor arises, first, from the necessity 

 for cutting the food daily, or at intervals of not more 

 than two or three days; second, from the necessity 

 for handling and conveying it to the animals in the 

 green form; third, from the necessity for feeding 

 and otherwise caring for the animals from day to 

 day in the pasture, paddock, shed or stall ; fourth, in 

 caring for the yards or paddocks and in handling 

 the manure. From the sum of this- labor, however, 

 in making the comparison, there should be deducted 

 the less amount of the labor necessary in providing 

 fencing. Notwithstanding, the extra labor involved, 

 and the increased expenditure resulting therefrom, 

 is the one great standing hindrance in the way of the 

 more general adoption of the system of complete 

 soiling by the farmers of this country. Nor is the 

 adoption of complete soiling likely to become general 

 until farm labor becomes cheaper and until land 

 becomes scarcer and dearer. But beyond all ques- 

 tion, in the opinion of the writer, the day is not very 

 far distant when complete soiling will be practiced 

 by a considerable number of the farmers in every 

 state of the Union. 



Partial soiling does not involve nearly so much 

 labor as complete soiling, hence it is practiced by a 

 greater number of farmers. Dairymen, especially, 

 cannot well get along without it. The necessity for 

 thus growing and feeding food to supplement the 

 pastures increases with the dryness of the climate. So 

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