CHAPTER I. 



SOILING CROPS. 



Soiling crops are those which are sown from 

 time to time to furnish food for domestic animals, 

 and which are to be harvested while yet immature 

 and fed to th-em in the pasture, the paddock, the feed 

 lot or the stall. Corn cut and thus fed to animals at 

 any stage prior to maturity furnishes an illustration 

 of a soiling food. A soiling food is, therefore, 

 another name for a green food. It is not necessary 

 that it shall be fed as soon as harvested, but it is 

 necessary that it shall be fed in the green form. Corn 

 preserved in the silo is essentially a soiling food, 

 inasmuch as it is cut when immature and in that con- 

 dition is fed to live stock, though it may not be fed 

 for months after it has been cut, as for instance, 

 when it has been preserved in the silo, hence the 

 propriety of combining the subject of soiling crops 

 and the silo in this treatise. 



Soiling crops differ from forage crops in that 

 the former are harvested and then carried to the 

 animals which consume them, whereas live stock 

 gather the latter for themselves; and soiling differ 

 from fodder crops in their being cut and fed green, 

 whereas fodder crops are frequently harvested when 

 mature or approaching maturity and are always 

 fed to animals in the cured form. People 

 who are disposed to follow rigidly the teachings 



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