1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
17 
There is a wide-spread belief that mules are 
stubborn and vicious,aud our agricultural Mend, 
Josh Billings, lias almost immortalized every 
bad quality that a mule can have. Probably 
these long-eared friends have rather more capac- 
ity in the direction of " rnulislmess " and vic- 
iousuess than have most of our other domestic 
animals; but it is a capacity only, and these bad 
qualities are in all cases the result of brutal aud 
ignorant treatment. The writer lias had to do 
with hundreds of mules, aud is convinced that 
they are naturally more intelligent, more affec- 
tionate aud more docile than horses. But their 
Fig. 6.— DUCK HOCSE. 
docility will not withstand abuse ; their affection 
is by no means bestowed on those who abuse 
them; and their intelligence is often chiefly 
exercised in devising means for worrying those 
who worry them. Well fed, well gloomed, and 
gently treated, a mule is a perfect farm labor- 
er; but starved, neglected and beaten, he has 
about as much badness and worthlessuess as 
it is possible for his four legs to carry. 
Soiling Cattle in Illinois. 
— ♦ — 
II. K. Smith, a young farmer of Putnam Co., 
111., writes to us for advice. He says : " I see 
the once rich farms about me are fast running 
out by the incessant cropping practised here. 
Now, I have eight}' acres of deep, black prairie 
soil, almost new, which will give me sixty-five 
bushels of coin per acre, and propose to keep 
it so by stocking it with — say eight or ten cows, 
keeping their calves until four years old, and 
fat, which will give the farm, after a little, an 
equivalent of — say twenty-five or thirty head of 
grown cattle. These I propose to feed in win- 
ter by steamed feed, in the most approved ivay, 
stabling most of the time, and soiling them in a 
summer house during June, July, August aud 
September, saving aud composting the manure. 
Now, I want your opinion of soiling in Illinois, 
bearing in mind that our soil will bring enor- 
mous quantities of clover, corn, etc., but is not 
first-class grazing land. Can cattle be kept in 
better order it' fed by the soiling process, away 
from flies, etc., the heat and sun, and allowed 
the run of — say an hour in the early morning — 
upon a good pasture '? Land here is worth $50 
per acre." 
Remarks. — A partial system of soiling cattle 
on laud tiiat will produce sixty-five bushels of 
corn per acre, and an abundant growth of 
clover, but is not first-class grazing land, can 
hardly fail of being profitable. But we would 
advise our correspondent to " feel his way," — 
to practise it at first on a small scale on a few 
acres of the richest laud. Soiling requires high 
farming. It will not do to mow a light crop of 
clover or corn fodder and cart it green to the 
stables for the cattle. You want the heaviest 
crop that the climate i3 capable of producing. 
The clover should be top-dressed in the fall or 
early winter, so as to give it an early start and 
a large growth in the spring. The corn for 
fodder should be drilled in rows, 3i feet apart 
(not sown broadcast), at the rate of four bushels 
per acre, aud thoroughly cultivated as long as 
the horse can get through the rows. The land 
should be made as rich aud mellow as 
possible. The nearer it is to the 
stables the more convenient will it 
be to feed out. But a still more im- 
portant point is to sow at least a por- 
tion of it on the dryest, warmest, best 
and richest land you have. This is 
the great secret of success in raising 
corn for soiling. Too many farmers, 
when they sow corn for fodder, select 
a piece of land that is too wet to 
plant with corn, and when they are 
through their regular planting they 
turn over a tough sod, sow some corn 
on it broadcast, and in nine cases out 
of ten get a crop that costs more to 
cut and draw to the barn than it is 
worth. Two years ago, we drilled in 
two acres of corn on a piece of rich, 
warm laud, while a neighbor sowed 
the same quantity broadcast on a 
piece of rich, wet land. He never 
harvested any of his, while, from the 1st of 
July, we fed seven cows all they would eat 
while iu the yard at night, and had more 
than half of the piece left to cure for fodder. 
No piece of land on the farm paid us better. 
To get the full benefit of soiliug, you must 
not only have rich land, but you should have 
well-bred cattle, and feed them more or less 
grain. The great advantage of the system is 
in providing a liberal allowance of food at all 
times, keeping the animals comfortable, 
aud pushing them forward rapidly to 
maturity. Shorthorns and their grades, so 
fed, should be ready for the butcher at two 
and a half or three years old, instead of 
four years, as our correspondent proposes. 
"We have more faith in soiling iii summer 
than in steamiug in winter. Unless you have 
every convenience, the saving of fodder by 
steaming will scarcely pay for fuel and labor — 
at least not in the new sections of country 
where cattle food is comparatively cheap. We 
should be glad to hear from our Western read- 
ers who have had experience iu soiling. — Eds. 
■ i «i » >-m. 
A New Cattle Shed at Ogden Farm. 
It having been found desirable to have more 
stable accommodation at Ogden Farm, so as to 
take full advantage of the existing appliauces 
for economical feeding, whenever the feeding 
of beef cattle promises a profit in the shape of 
free manure, a shed 12 feet wide, and 200 feet 
long, has been built as au addition to the barn. 
The barn is 100 feet loug from east to west. 
The new shed starts at the south-west corner, 
aud runs 100 feet to the west, being a continua- 
tion of the south front of the barn ; then it 
forms a right angle, aud continues 100 feet to- 
wards the south. By this arrangement the 
barn-yard is perfectly protected for a leugth of 
200 feet on the north aud 100 feet on the west, 
which is, of itself, an immense advantage. 
The shed has stables for cattle and sheep, and 
loose boxes for horses ou the ground level ; aud 
on a floor above these a continuation of the 
railway track that carries the fodder car from 
the steaming chamber. This floor also affords 
CATTLE SHED. 
considerable storage room for grain, forage, etc., 
and has an open space at the side of the track 
for throwing down fodder. The ground plan 
of the new building is shown iu figure 2. It 
contains five large compartments and four 
smaller ones, with doors and windows opening 
into the barn-yard, and with mangers ou the 
opposite side. The Compartment nearest to the 
barn, (as the ground is higher at this point, and 
the ceiling lower in consequence,) is appropria- 
ted to sheep; the next, which is still lower, to 
yearling heifers; the next, to cows, and the 
next two, which are more than 7 feet in the 
toSfctfe, 
Tftr *$r a °P* StablejorlOStemWaHeforlOSteers 
feS^fefe fel 3b X 12 T J0 X I2 
Fig. 2. — PLAN OF CATTLE SUED. 
s. 
l5g 
it 
>o fe; 
clear, to beef cattle. The four box 
stalls are each large enough for a 
mare and foal, or for two colts. 
Figure 1 shows a section of the 
building which is only 12 feet wide. 
The cattle stand upon the ground, 
which is covered with sand to keep 
it dry, and each one has a " head- 
hole" into the manger, which is 
continuous in each compartment, so 
that it can be swept clean from end 
to end. The railroad track, which 
is an extension of the track on the 
cattle floor of the barn, runs at the 
side of the floor next to the manger, 
aud leaves about G feet of the floor 
available for storage purposes. 
There are four ventilators at the 
peak, aud six windows in the front 
slopes of the roof. Ample light is 
given to the lower story by windows on the front. 
There is uo opening of any kind on the north or 
west side of the building. The railroad does 
not run over the horse boxes, because it was 
necessary to raise the floor 2 feet higher at this 
point, to give more head room below. The 
feeding is very easily doue, as the car is loaded 
Is 
to 
a 
s 
