1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
141 
the stakes very soon, and then a 
man on horseback, or carrying a 
stool, goes from hill to hill, train¬ 
ing each vine upon one of the 4 di¬ 
vergent cords. Those from oppo¬ 
site ends of the same cord will meet 
and pass—each will reach the next 
pole probably, and perhaps go be¬ 
yond it, though it may be pinched 
off at .the end. The joints on the 
horizontal part will be short, and 
the laterals very vigorous. Upon 
these side shoots all the fruit is 
produced, and it is the universal 
testimony so far as we have evi¬ 
dence, that much more is borne on 
the horizontal system than on the 
other, and that the hops are larger 
and finer. This is to be expected 
from the fact that the fruit branches hang swing¬ 
ing perfectly free, and thoroughly exposed to 
the sun. The ground is also warmed by the sun 
much better than when the tall poles are used. 
The horizontal hop yard has received the at¬ 
tention of many of the best hop growers of 
Central New-York, and from what we can learn 
it possesses very important advantages. These 
are thus enumerated by the editor of the “ Hop 
Growers Journal” : Economy, earlier ripening, 
greater yield, less labor, less peril from wind, 
less shade, and avoidance of bleeding. The last 
specification is particularly noteworthy, for 
great damage is annually done to the roots by 
cutting off the vines near the ground at harvest, 
as is uniformly dorie in order to raise and re¬ 
move the poles with their burden of fruit. Many 
vines are killed every year, and all are weakened 
and succumb after a few years ; so that under 
the new treatment the longevity of the plant is 
greatly increased, as well as its health. In an¬ 
other article we may give a description of the 
methods of harvesting this crop, kiln drying, etc. 
Fig. 2.—ELEVATION OE SUMMER FEEDING SEED—FOR DAIRY OF FIFTY COWS. 
Soiling Cows on Dairy Farms. 
The feeding of milch cattle in a way to save 
all their manure, and to enable them to make 
the most economical use of all that grows upon 
the land devoted to fodder crops, is'accomplish¬ 
ed by what is termed “ soiling.'" This is seldom 
practised in this country, not from any lack of 
minute explanation of the system and of its 
advantages by the agricultural press, and not by 
reason of there existing any reasonable doubts 
whether it would succeed in this country. It 
has been successfully practised by farmers 
in many different localities. Nevertheless few 
farmers can be brought to believe that the ben¬ 
efits are so great as they really are, and they 
seem to feel as if they could not spare the labor 
required to take care of the stock in stables. Be¬ 
sides, few farmers have buildings adapted to the 
purpose, and so centrally situated that the labor 
of hauling the fodder from the fields to the cat¬ 
tle is not a great bugbear. Soiling cows will pay, 
and may easily be done on many dairy farms. 
The advantages may be briefly enumerated, viz.: 
1. The cows are kept in better condition, give 
more milk, are kinder, more docile, and hold 
out in milk longer, than if allowed to roam. 
2. The interior fences of a farm may be en¬ 
tirely dispensed with; a large yard being pro¬ 
vided for the cows to take exercise in for an 
hour or two in a cool part of each day. 
3. The entire product of the land is secured 
and fed to the cows. None of the crop is 
spoiled by the droppings of animals, nor hurt 
by their tread, nor by being lain upon; nor is it 
stinted in its growth by close cropping during 
the heat of summer when it can least endure this. 
4. Both the solid and liquid excrements of the 
animals are saved without loss, to be applied to 
the soil at the best season, and in the best form, 
according to the judgment of the farmer— 
an advantage which out-weighs all the others. 
We do not propose to argue the question of 
expediency. The advantages above stated are 
obvious facts, or any one may prove them such 
after having had sufficient trial to learn how to 
manage with reasonable economy. The ques¬ 
tion is, How to do this; at least, How to Begin. 
—Knowing that Mr. Donald G. Mitchell—the 
author of that very delightful and instructive 
'book “My Farm of Edgewood,” which we 
have taken occasion more than once to commend 
to our readers—had given much thought to this 
J=P- 
only central, but within easy ‘ hauling ’ distance 
of the muck bed, from which I counted upon 
a weekly supply for the accumulating manure 
heap. And yet again, this manure heap would 
be within easy carting distance of the fields to 
be tilled the following spring. A shelter for the 
manure, under the conditions supposed, I should 
consider quite as important as a shelter for cat¬ 
tle. It is the habit with many, who grow corn- 
fodder to help out the August pasture, to scat¬ 
ter the newly cut stalks over the parched fields. 
Under these conditions, with a fiery sun, and a 
scorched tup I believe that the loss of fertiliz¬ 
ing qualities in the manure, is enormous. With 
the feeding shed, every particle of manure 
would count for its true value; the cattle would 
be protected from the sun, and with a sufficient 
head of water at command, and a few feet of 
ud 
'=□ 
Fig. 2. —GROUND PLAN OF 16 FEET IN LENGTH OF THE FEEDING SHED. 
References.— C.C. Cattle floors ; D.D. Drains for liquid manure ; F.F. Feeding troughs; G.G. 
Gangways in rear of cattle; M. Manure heap ; P.P. Two of the partitions between pairs of stalls. 
ammoniacal the dressings, the greater will be 
hose, the ut¬ 
most clean¬ 
liness might 
be secured 
and the tem¬ 
perature mo¬ 
derated at 
will. For 
success in 
soiling, par- 
t i c u 1 a r 1 y 
with corn- 
fodder,heavy 
manuring is 
essential; and 
the m ore 
rank and 
subject, we wrote him for permission to publish 
his plan for beginning a system of soiling on an 
old farm, which is detailed in the book above re¬ 
ferred to. Instead of this, Mr. Mitchell writes : 
“I send you a rough draft of the shed I had 
proposed to build, which would have been a 
cheap but substantial affair, and which as a man¬ 
ufactory of manure alone, would, I think, have 
paid for itself in three seasons. Were I to 
erect all buildings de novo , I would so arrange 
them as to make one feeding place serve for 
both seasons. But my old winter stables were 
neither centrally situated, nor were they so dis¬ 
posed as to admit of an economic handling of the 
corn fodder, or other green food which might 
be supplied. And this last is a capital point , 
when reckoning up the advantages of feeding 
a herd of twenty to fifty animals, two or three 
times a day, throughout the busy season. Green 
corn-fodder is bulky and heavy; every half 
mile of transport counts largely; and if the fod¬ 
der be handled over two or three times for be¬ 
stowal along the mangers of interior stabling, 
a great deal of labor is needlessly sacrificed. 
“Again, my proposed summer-slied was not 
the succulence; and as the crop matures no 
seed, a reserve of mineral food will be left on de¬ 
posit in the land for subsequent cereal crops. 
I do not think you can urge soiling too strong¬ 
ly ; and I am satisfied that in ten years time no 
good dairyman upon smooth lands within close 
neighborhood of towns, will ever turn his cows 
to pasture.” 
The Prospective Demand for Horses and 
Mules. —Hundreds of thousands of horses are 
used up and killed in the operations of war. 
The high and rising prices are a temptation to 
sell, but we counsel all farmers who can do so, 
not to sell their young mares, but breed from 
them, if they are fit for it. The demand for 
mules is equal to that for horses, and their con¬ 
sumption is quite as large. The mule, it is well 
known, is marketable after it is two years old, 
broken or unbroken, and no guarantee of sound¬ 
ness is required, while the horse is not salable 
until 4 to 5 years old, and must be sound and 
well broken, and will bring no more as a general 
thing than the mule. 
