30 FORAGE CROPS 
SOILING VERSUS PASTURING 
The chief advantages and disadvantages of 
soiling, as compared with pasturing, have been 
pointed out by many writers, and special points 
are alluded to in succeeding chapters; but it may 
be well to consider the question briefly at this 
time, as the subject is not well understood, and 
its importance is not appreciated as it should be. 
Among the advantages of the soiling system, 
the following are important: 
1. A larger quantity of food may be secured from 
the same land under soiling systems than under 
pasturage. It has been shown by many careful 
experiments that one acre of land in soiling crops 
will maintain from two to four cows per acre dur- 
ing the growing season, or practically from May 1 
to November 1 in the latitude of Pennsylvania. 
2. The food may be made more uniform in 
quantity and in quality when cut and carried to 
the animals, and fed in the barn or paddock, than 
when the animals are allowed to select their own. 
Under exclusive pasturage systems animals are 
frequently unable to obtain a full supply; thus 
their food fluctuates both in quantity and quality, 
and the varying conditions do not permit of the 
full and constant flow of milk. Animals cannot be 
kept to their full capacity throughout the year 
unless they are uniformly and abundantly supplied 
with food, 
