58 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Soiling' Cattle. 
Captain Ilawley, of New Haven, V., asks : 
" {. How many acres ofland should be planted 
with green crops for each cow during the sea- 
son of green fodder ? 
2. Do you recommend keep-in r rows confined 
to a small yard and stable, or is it better to let 
them have the run of a small pasture a portion 
of the time, during the day ? 
3. What crops do you recommend to be sown 
for green feeding ?" 
To which we reply : 
1. This depends entirely on the fertility of 
the land. Ordinarily good land, such as would 
produce 35 bushels of corn to the acre, ought, 
with moderately fair manuring, to produce the 
fond required b} - an average cow throughout 
the season, and something over, to be cured and 
stowed away for winter. It would not pay to 
undertake soiling on any land less productive 
than this. A field of double the fertility of tliis 
— one that would produce 70 bushels of corn — 
receiving double the quantity of manure per 
acre, and skilfully managed, so as to produce 
two or three crops during the season, would 
amply feed four cows for the whole season. 
With any really good land, it should be easy to 
keep two cows to the acre, and to store surplus 
fodder for winter. On any land that we con- 
sidered good enough to devote to soiling, we 
would consider '| 2 acre per head sufficient. 
It will generally be found in the raising of all 
crops, but especially with green fodder, that if 
the manure and labor ordinarily applied to an 
acre are concentrated on a half-acre, more than 
double the amount of forage will be produced, 
and the laud improved by the treatment. 
2. If the pasture is small and is close to the 
barn, it will be, so far as the cows are concern- 
ed, as good as a yard— possibly better — but the 
animals should be fed five times a day, getting 
at each feeding as much as they will eat up 
clean, and no more; and after each feeding, 
they should lie quietly until they have finished 
chewing the cud. This will not give them 
much time, nor leave them much inclination for 
pasturing. Under a system of partial soiling, 
when the cows are fed in their stalls only twice 
a day (morning and night), they will of course 
need a good pasture. The full benefit of the 
system, however, cannot be obtained unless they 
are kept at all times either in the stable or in a 
small yard, where the manure can all be collect- 
ed at short intervals, and applied in a systematic 
way to the land for which it is destined. As 
milch cows require very little exercise, and 
as much of the profit of soiling comes in the 
form of manure, the less they are allowed to 
roam the bettor. A couple of hours' daily ex- 
posure to the sun, with the least possible in- 
ducement to roam, will give the best results. 
3. For the first feeding, before even grass is 
long enough for a good bite;, rfia, sown early in 
September, on heavily manured laud. A-; the 
object is to get stalk and leaf rather than grain, 
the richer the land is made the better. If the 
cutting is commenced when the iye is a foot 
high, much of the field can be gone over a 
second time, and some of it even a third 
time. By the time this crop is finished, 
grass will be in good condition for the scythe. 
This will he followed by oats, of winch a good 
area should be sown (on laud plowed in the 
fall, and only harrowed in the spring — to save 
time), at intervals of about ten days, from the 
fi>nt moment when proper sowing 13 possible 
until about May 1st. The first crop of oats 
will follow the grass, and the later ones will 
come on in succession until the corn is three 
feet high. Early in May, the great soiling crop 
(Southern orWestern corn) should be sown. The 
first sowing should be made as early in May as 
the season will permit, and successive plantings 
should follow, at intervals of about two weeks, 
until August 1st. After this date there is not 
much use in planting it. 
For 10 cows we would devote, if we were 
about commencing the practice or soiling, 10 
acres of good land, and an abundant supply of 
manure; 5 acres might answer, but it is always 
well to have too ■much, of all kinds of green fod- 
der. Two acres should be devoted to rye ; two 
to grass ; two to oats, and four to corn. If the 
land were capable of producing 70 bushels of 
corn, we would expect, with ample manuring, 
to get enough more than the cattle would con- 
sume to furnish one-half (if not all) of their win- 
ter supply of long forage. 
The corn should not be allowed to fruit. As 
fast as it blooms it should be cut up and cured, 
and the soiling forage should be taken from the 
next planting. Grass can be cut at intervals 
during the summer for a change, but should 
never pass the stage of earl}' blossoming. 
How to Subdue Brush in Pastures. 
In all the dairy region grass grows well, but 
brush grows better, extending the roots every 
year, and gaining in power to grow, the longer 
they are neglected. In three or four years it 
roots out tiie grass, and in twenty years makes a 
forest. We all know that brush can be sub- 
dued and kept under by plowing or by habitual 
cutting; but in many cases the plowing is im- 
practicable, and the annual cutting costs more 
than the grass is worth. We cannot afford to 
pay five dollars for four dollars' worth of pas- 
ture. Some fields are so rocky and wet that it 
would cost a hundred dollars an acre to clear 
and drain them, while adjacent land all cleared 
is not worth forty dollars an acre. That will 
not pay yet. We have thought of a mowing 
machine for cutting brush, and if we had one 
about three times as strong as a Buckeye, that 
would take off a half-inch stub, it would be 
just the thing for cutting sweet ferns, whortle- 
berries, and briers that infest smooth pastures. 
But the machine to do this work is not yet in 
the market. Annual burning with seed sowing 
is probably the cheapest and best method on 
most pastures. Of course where the brush al- 
ready has possession, it must be cut to be- 
gin with. On the burned spots grass seed should 
he sown in the spring. Young shoots will 
spring up the first season, and make a growth 
of two or three feet. The leaves will fall 
and cover the earth. This covering will become 
very dry by spring, and if a dry spell is chosen 
to fire them, the burning leaves and grass will 
make a fire hot enough to consume most of the 
new growth, and deaden the whole of it down 
to the ground. The roots will start again the 
second season, but witli diminished vigor. The 
ashes from the annual burning will stimulate the 
growth of the grass. The clumps of brush will 
grow "small by degrees and beautifully less" 
until grass has full possession. The occasion of 
failure by burning is owing to the want of perse- 
verance. It will not do to intermit for a single 
season. Close pasturing, especially with sheep, 
is a great help in the process. If the land has 
an annual burning, many of the tender leaves 
and twigs that start will be cropped by the ani- 
mals, and the growth will be diminished. The 
burning is inexpensive. In favorable weather 
one man would burn over fifty acres in a day, 
and keep the fire from damaging trees or fences. 
We were recently in a pasture that bad been 
under this treatment for several years. The 
bushes were nearly extinct, and the grass was 
green and vigorous, even in December. The 
torch had proved a worthy rival of the plow, 
as an implement of cultivation. The true 
policy in managing these rough pastures is a 
little labor applied persistently every year, leav- 
ing the bushes no chance to get a strong hold. 
Burying vs. Transporting' Rocks. 
There are two sides to most questions, and 
the question whether we shall bury or lift out 
the stones from our pastures is no exception to 
the general rule. Under certain circumstances 
it is admitted that the rock-lifters are the most 
economical. With Packer's Machine, or a Rock- 
lifter, three men and a team will take out in 
a day — say one hundred rocks, weighing from 
two to six tons. It will take the same force, 
another day, to pack them away in a wall if it 
is hand}'. If you have to carry them a long 
distance and dump them into a swamp or pond- 
hole, it will take still longer. If a man has the 
fence fever strong upon him, and cannot see 
that twenty-acre fields are better than four, then 
let him lift stones and build the heavy walls. 
But some of us covet large fields ; and we prize 
the bogs too highly for cranberries, to fill them 
up and make upland of them. We want the 
stones out of sight, and out of the way of the 
plow. We cannot sell the rocks, and we have 
too many fences already. To us burying is the 
cheaper method. A good workman will put 
one of these large stones out of sight in about 
an hour, and in the fall and winter, when labor 
is cheapest and the weather is fittest, the cost 
will be fifteen cents. He simply digs a hole 
with pick and spade or shovel, beside the stone, 
partially undermines it, and, with crow-bar, 
tip= the rock in, calculating in his digging to 
leave the top of the rock two feet below the 
surface of the ground. One advantage of 
this method is that it raises the surface of 
the ground. In removing the rocks, as we 
have to with the rock-lifters, the grade is 
so much lowered that sometimes new rocks un- 
seen before are brought to the surface, and a 
second crop has to be pulled before we can give 
a clean sweep to the plow. In burying, we raise 
the grade so as to avoid this necessity. Much 
less of the subsoil is brought to the surface by 
this process than by the other. The stones and 
gravel are put in a pile on one side of the rock, 
and the surface soil in another pile. When the 
rock is dumped into the hole, the small stones 
are packed around the edges, and the subsoil 
and gravel filled in next, and the surface soil 
last. This treatment operates a good deal like 
subsoiling and underdraining combined. There 
is drainage all around the s ; dcs of the buried 
rock ; the subsoil and surface soil are thoroughly 
loosened and sufficiently mingled, and the soil 
is put in the best mechanical condition for 
crops. The good effects upon the soil are 
visible for many years after the operation. 
Manure tells best over these sunken rocks, and 
the grass and other crops are largest. We do 
not mean to depreciate the value of the rock- 
lifters. We need all of them, and more. But 
there are circumstances where burying is the 
cheaper way of clearing rocky pastures and 
meadows. Connecticut. 
