702 
OCT 27 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Dftiri) J^ushmifrn}. 
SOILING DAIRY COWS. 
L. S. HARDIN. 
A great many dairymen are just now turn¬ 
ing their attention to the subject of increasing 
the milk yields of their cows and possibly ad¬ 
ding to the number in the herd by adopting in 
some degree the soiling system. As an adjunct 
to the pasture when dry weather cuts off the 
grass supply, there can be no question of its 
utility. Most dairymen practice it, and I be¬ 
lieve all approve of it. When, however, it 
comes to soiling pure and simple, where milk 
production is the main object in view, while 
there have been a few sporadic cases of suc¬ 
cess with it, I know of no community of dairy¬ 
men that practice it exclusively, and yet itisa 
pretty safe proposition that where one man suc¬ 
ceeds with a particular system, others cau, and 
it needs therefore only proper management for 
all 11 succeed, W riters tell us that it is a com 
mon practice in England and on the continent 
of Europe, though I cannot recall an instance 
of any large number of dairymen who prac¬ 
tice it there. 
In my own experience I have found some 
very hard points to get over, though I am not 
prepared to say that with care and sufficient 
experience they cannot be surmounted. For 
instance, to supply a constant yield of green 
food, a succession of green crops must be 
planted, and in order to furnish the cows with 
a constant supply of fresh, green food, these 
crops must follow one another in close order: 
that is, as soon as one is exhausted or becomes 
too old and dry for use, the other must be 
ready. I say “ must,” for the cow cannot 
wait. Iu my own practice I never could get 
these crops to dovetail into one another as 
they should. No matter how often l planted, 
if the weather was hot and dry the grain 
would not sprout; and then again if the 
weather for a continuous term was hot and 
wet, everything would come forward with a 
rush, and for a while I would be fairly over¬ 
whelmed with green food, but, dry weather 
coming on again, this feed would mature and 
leave me nothing fresh and succulent. The 
prime cause of my failure, however, was the 
refusal of the cows to consume enough of this 
rich, rank growth to make them give a 
large yield of milk. The careful observer 
must have noticed that cows at pasture, un¬ 
less driven to it by semi-starvation, will not 
eat the rank growth about the droppings on 
the field. They do not seem to like it, but pre¬ 
fer the shorter grass that grows out in the 
sunshine. Now, all soiling crops, with, per¬ 
haps, the exception of Red Clover, are rank 
growths that are forced, usually by the appli¬ 
cation of manure. It is very evident that the 
cow can taste or probably smell this manure in 
the green food tendered her. At least she 
picks the feed over in a dainty way that is not 
natural with her when she likes a thing. 
Then, after she has mussed with it a while, she 
absolutely refuses to have anything more to do 
with it. 
This objection to the soiling system may 
possibly be in whole or in part removed by 
some means for feeding the cow constantly, 
and a little at a time. If she could be handed 
a mouthful as soon as she consumed the pre¬ 
vious one, without any chance to breathe on the 
fresh one or pick it over, she might thus be 
induced to consume enough to keep up the 
milk yield, or there may be mixtures or 
methods of feeding it with which I am not ac¬ 
quainted. 
Mr. Burnett and some other noted dairymen 
have stated that it was their practice to feed 
the cows only twice a day; but they stretched 
these feediugs over four or five hours each, so 
that at least eight, or ten hours of the 24 were 
spent in eating, while the remainder of the 
day was taken up with resting and chewing 
the cud. This is certainly a departure from 
the old methods, and it would be entertaining 
to know from these gentlemen just how they 
manage to keep on feeding for so great a 
length of time. Can they afford to keep men 
employed at this occupation, or have they 
some mechanical appliance for presenting 
the cow with just so much feed at short in¬ 
tervals? If men stand by to feed in this 
leisurely way, it would be still more interest¬ 
ing to know if it is a strictly paying practice. 
Undoubtedly as a matter of theory simply, 
every argument is in favor of the soiliag 
system; but when you come to put these 
theories in practice the growths of corn, rye, 
oats, clover and other crops that are usually 
depended on, are so uncertain and erratic and 
are so energetically assisted by the still more 
uncertain and erratic weather, that, to my 
limited experience, the difficulties seem totally 
unsurmouocable. I tried the soiling system 
several years with about twenty cows, but 
finally gave it up in despair. The cows shrank 
almost two-thirds in their yield of milk com¬ 
pared with their work while on a good Blue 
Grass pasture, aud I finally abandoned the 
green food altogether, and cut the crop when 
I needed it, without regard to its condition of 
maturity, and ran it through a cutting-box, 
and mixed mill feed with it wet, and thus 
saved in a great measure the milk supply; 
but. it was done at a cost of Winter feeding in 
Summer time. 
It is also a serious question whether or not 
the rank growth of soiling crops will make 
as liiK'-llavored butter as can be made from 
grass fed to cows, and this question becomes 
all the more serious from the fact that soiling 
is practiced at a season when the butter made 
from it must come iu competition with butter 
and cheese made from grass-fed cows. There 
is no question about butter taking its flavor 
from the food of the cow, and this is a point 
that the dairyman cannot afford to overlook. 
The need of exercise for cows that are fed in 
the stable, is of no great moment, as they 
really need but very little, as the very act of 
milk-giving is a considerable strain upon the 
system, and an hour or two in the stable yard 
each day will afford all the movement they 
need. 
These hints are thrown out with no inten¬ 
tion of discouraging dairymen from trying 
the soiling system, but simply to warn them, 
from facts gathered from actual experience, of 
certain difficulties that will have to be met 
aud overcome before success can be assured. 
The one great precaution is not to make a 
radical change too suddenly. Try it on a 
small scale first and gradually increase the 
acreage of soiling crops as the practice proves 
a success, remembering that one season 
may be an exceptionally good one and only 
mislead all calculations. These hints relate 
also only to cows in milk. Dry cows, bulls, 
calves and kindred stock do admirably on all 
kinds of soiling crops, but it must be re¬ 
membered that green fodder of any kind is 
very heavy, and only small loads can be 
hauled off of soft fields, and if much is cut at 
a time it heats and spoils, unless spread out 
and withered—which is really the best way to 
feed corn fodder and possibly other grasses— 
but the cow will not eat so much of it. 
farm topics. 
NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 
T. H. HOSKINS;, M. D. 
The record of Value 2d Ip. 622) is a good 
one, and seems to be as well authenticated as 
possible. The writer of the article appears to 
think there is good reason to doubt previous 
great records not so carefully authenticated. 
But why ? Value 2d’s record is rather a sub¬ 
stantiation than a refutal of the others, unless 
we assume that she is a unique phenomenon. 
And when, as has been several times done hero 
in Vermont, common cows ha ve made records 
of from 500 to upwards of 600 pounds of but¬ 
ter in a year, there seems nothing very sur¬ 
prising in like records from individuals of a 
special butter breed. 
It. is to be hoped that now the close corpora¬ 
tion feature of the American Jersey Cattle 
Club is at last broken up. But monopolies die 
hard. The report in p. 622 of the special meet¬ 
ing is “mighty interesting reading,” and in¬ 
structive, too, if one desires to learn. 
Mr. Foote’s article (p. 623) on Forests and 
Rainfall is very interesting, and I believeper- 
fectlysound. There is no reason to believe 
that there has been anv decrease of rainfall on 
this continent. But nothing can be truer than 
that there is a vast change in regard to the 
How of water, where large forests have been 
removed. Here in Vermont trout brooks and 
springs dry up, and even quite larere rivers 
run almost drv in Summer from this cause, 
while destructive Spring freshets increase. 
But then. we must clear the land, or we can 
have no farms, L. R. G. (same page) seems to 
have the right idea, too. 
I suppose that experience has settled it be¬ 
yond a doubt that green manuring for wheat, 
as spoken of on p. 624, is a success every¬ 
where. But the details of the process are still 
open for discussion, and probably Mr. Baird’s 
ideas are correct. 
What a pity it is that the early frosts have 
cut down so much sorghum this season ! The 
last three years, just when we w r anted good 
seasons for this new industry, have been bad 
for it. But T believe it has vitality in it. to 
survive all misfortune, and the mishaps it has 
encountered are, after all, less than those that 
were experienced at the inception of beet 
sugar making, or indeed of cane sugar mak¬ 
ing in Louisiana. Perhaps sorghum for sugar 
will never be a safe crop north of 40 degrees. 
Rural, Sept. 29. — I hope indeed that Mr. 
Burr’s new grapes (p. 637) will prove propor¬ 
tionally as early further north as he reports 
them to be iu Kansas We do pretty well in 
good seasons on the Canada line with what 
are now called early—Balem, Delaware, 
Brighton aud Israella, but something still 
earlier, and as good, would be acceptable. 
Israella was the most thoroughly ripe of any 
with me this year. 
What is the Flageolet Bean recommended as 
being equal or superior to Lima on p. 638? I 
do not find it iu any of my catalogues. An 
early bean of that character is very desirable. 
Mr. Clendon’s article on Phosphate versus 
Superphosphate (p. 688 ), is extremely valua¬ 
ble, and agrees with the results of many years’ 
experience and experiment on my own farm. 
When we remember that the phosphoric acid 
iu our most fertile soils, and'also iu our stable 
manure, is in what is called the “insoluble” (!) 
form, it ought to be plain that ground bones 
and the soft phosphate rock of South Caro¬ 
lina are sufficiently soluble for all practical 
purposes. The best crop of potatoes I ever 
saw in smoothness, quality and quantity, was 
grown with no other fertilizer than a mixture 
of fine bone-ash and wood ashes. 
Rural, Oct. 6. —Mr. Stahl’s article on 
storiug potatoes (p. 053), scorns to me quite 
sound. At least, it Agrees with my experi¬ 
ence. Contrary to the advice of neighbors, 
when I began farming in Kentucky (iu 1855) 
I dug my early potatoes when ripe, (in July), 
and immediately stored them in a cool cellar, 
where they kept perfectly until the next 
Spring. Here in Northern Vermont I dig my 
potatoes as soon as the vines are dry (usually 
about Sept. 1), and carry them at once to the 
cellar, where they are stored in open barrels 
two tiers high. Losses from rot amount to 
nothing,—perhaps two or three tubers in a 
barrel, but often none. My cellar is quite 
dry. 
I do not quite agree with one thing in Mr. 
Devereaux’s excellent article on the applica¬ 
tion of manure (p. 654), where he says that the 
elements of fertility evaporate from manure 
spread upon the surface and left there. I be¬ 
lieve nothing evaporates but waterand a little 
volatile animal matter of no fertilizing value. 
But if manure is left iu lumps upon the sur¬ 
face long in dry weather, the lumps become 
so indurated that they cannot be broken up 
with anything but the Acme Harrow, and 
when worked under it is a long time before 
they lose their cohesion so as to be penetrable 
by roots. 
W. W. K’s remarks about ashes (p. 655) 
seem to leave out of consideration the fact 
that ashes are not a complete fertilizer. 
Ashes are of no use on my land w ithout bone, 
nor bone without ashes. The same may be 
said when there is deficiency of available ni¬ 
trogen. If rotted wood improves the crop 
where ashes do not, it may be that phosphoric 
acid and nitrogen, one or both, with ashes, 
would do good. But it may well be that 
phosphoric acid and nitrogen alone are 
needed, as many soils, especially clays and 
rich alluvium, have enough of potash. 
Is not the Rural’s friend who says the peo¬ 
ple prefer a diet of wind to one of facts 
(p 657) a little harsh i I suspect the trouble is 
that some of them don’t know which is wind 
and whi ;h is fact. Genuine science is but 
newly applied to agriculture, and ns yet what 
we call our agricultural knowledge is mostly 
crude and more or lees windy. Much slow, 
patient, inconspicuous, but brainy work has 
to he done before all the “wind” is worked out 
of it. Meantime we must all do the best we 
can with what we think we know. 
I am glad the good Rural editor keeps 
banging his pulpit to warn his hearers against 
debt. “Line upon line.” 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
-- 
BAD LUCK. 
CLEM AULDON. 
Some people say there is no such thing as 
luck; that “chance” is a word which belongs 
to the realm of speculation and poetical 
fancy. But I tell you, if any one will put on 
his “specks” and look about him, he will see 
that there is a “powerful sight” of hard luck 
in this world. Somebody is having it all the 
time. 
The man w r bo helps to pay the internal 
revenue on whiskey is always meeting with 
bak luck. The man who lies abed in the morn¬ 
ing and usurps the province of the owl, is 
liable to have a deal of bad luck; at any rate 
he is pretty sure to leave a large inheritance 
of it to his children, The man who never know fS 
there is anything the matter with the harness, 
or auything wrong with the wagon until the 
tiro comes off and leaves him out on a bad 
road after dark, is morally certain to com¬ 
plain of bad luck. 
My neighbor, Mr. William Risearly, con¬ 
cluded last Spring to try a little gardening for 
the markets. He knew nothing about the 
business, but made up his mind to venture 
slowly and learn as be went along. He has 
learned something. To begin with, he put in 
a patch of early peas. He had to buy the seed 
and naturally wanted to get it cheap. A neigh¬ 
boring farmer had some “Tom Thumbs” which 
he had offered him at about half price. 
“Pure?”—O yes, they were pure—splendid 
seed, and then, he could save several dollars 
ou a bushel—quite an item, you see. 
Well, the first peas in the market retailed 
at 50 cents a gallon. But William didn’t have 
any peas, then. His were coming on hand¬ 
somely, but they were not quite ready. They 
looked nice and thrifty, though they were not 
uniform. About one out of four stood six or 
eight inches high, the others about IS inches. 
W hen he got ready to pick—after others had 
been selling for some time—they were worth 
15 cents, but people didn’t want to buy peas 
then—had got out of the notion. As a result 
most of his crop rotted on the ground. If that 
wasn’t bad luck what would you call it? 
Then he tried to raise some early corn. The 
worms work on sweet core so badly here that 
it is about useless to attempt its cultivation. 
Some grow the common field corn as a substi¬ 
tute; but instead of putting iu Adam’s Early 
(which is aspleudid variety with us) he planted 
some “Montgomery” seed that was grown iu 
Maryland, and which somebody told him 
would mature in 90 days. It was so late and 
so poorly adapted to the purpose, that he did 
not attempt to pick it. More bad luck! 
Then with tomatoes: he knew the Trophy 
was a good variety because—why, because the 
catalogues said so. Aud then be. had heard 
them highly recommended. When he came 
to market them they were so ill-shaped, and 
so gnarly, and so completely outlandish that 
people would look at them and say: “I would 
buy them if they were smooth, but I don’t 
want such looking things as those.” 
Talk about there being no such thing as 
“bad luck!” 
• »♦«- 
WHAT I AM GOING TO DO NEXT YEAR. 
Now, that this year’s w-orkingseason is past, 
I am thinking over successes and failures, and 
while everything is fresh iu mind, determin¬ 
ing upon my line of action for next season. 
And, what is of more consequence, I am writ¬ 
ing it down in my year-book, where I can read 
it the first thing next Spring. Some things I 
am going to do just as I did this year, with 
the expectation of a like success. 
1 am going to plant sweet corn in drills four 
feet apart, aud thin the stalks to 10 inches 
apart. This season my corn putcb gave me 
125 ears to every 100 fei t of drill, This yield 
was at the rate of 13,500 ears to the acre—more 
than 1 think possible by the hill system. The 
advantages in ease of working the crop are 
obvious, aud the saving of time in planting 
and plowing is nearly 50 percent. 
I shall again plant roy earl 3 - peas on the 
ground where my corn is to be planted later, 
putting the rows in the middle of the four- 
foot spaces of the future corn-field. Peas ask 
little of the soil, and are gathered and off be¬ 
fore the corn needs the space. The vines may 
be plowed in to help the corn. 
Another success which I hope to repeat was 
achieved by planting out late cabbages in the 
patch of onions grown from sets. The onions 
were sold, m bunches for the most part, before 
the cabbages wanted all the soil, and the lat¬ 
ter seem to be entirely free from attacks of 
insects underground. If the onions secured 
them this immuuity, why not put a few sets 
iu every cabbage hill, when the plants are set? 
The rows of onions were 15 inches apart and 
the cabbages were set three feet apart in every 
alternate row. 
A partial failure of turnips in maturing 
good roots seemed due to too close planting. 
The distance upart wus 16 inches, and onty the 
outside rows of the plot gave line roots. On 
one side were the onions which were smaller 
in the row next to the turnips than in any 
other. On the other side of the turnips were 
carrots which did very well. I shall, there¬ 
fore, try two methods next season:— 1 , plant- 
the turnips in rows 20 inches apart; 2 . plant¬ 
ing them 24 inches apart with intermediate 
rows of carrots. I think the latter plan will 
give the best return from the area occupied. 
In all eases 1 have found it more profitable to 
use unoccupied space between rows of grow¬ 
ing crops, which require such space to be 
saved for their use later in the season, in rais¬ 
ing some quick-growing crop, like spiuuch or 
radishes. Very little more fertilizer is need- 
