Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-12-18

ful OF grass daily for each COW, to exc out
tho pasture. This looks very much like
soiling; but never mind, we won't call il
that, and then nobody will be frightened.
After haying and harvesting there was
temporary improvement. For two weeks
cattle filled themselves tolerably we'll on the
upspringing rowen or slender clover. 1t
was costly feed. The farmer might more
economically have invited his cows and sheep
into the kitchen and given them stable
board" Meadows eaten bare and left un-
protected for wInter-the precious clover,
the seed Of which costs six dollars a bushel,
gnawed to the roots these are sorry sights
fer farmer who has the good of his land at
heart. They show not only great present
loss, but a more important future impover-
ishment of the soil. Aud, after all, the cat
tie didn't get enough. Cows failed 10 their
milk most provokingly, just when butter was
going up to forty cents pound. Judicious
farmers fed their cattle--bought meal or
mill feed for their COWS, and kept their
horses in the stable. Lucky was the man
who had sown one or two acres OF corn fod-
der or Hungarian grass. The difficulties of
curing it for winter use need have no ter.
rors for him his stock would make sure
and profitable market for it in August and
September. If a farmer had not any succu-
leut fodder this season, his cattle must have
suffered or been fed hay from the barn.
1t is all very we'll to pasture cattle, pro.
vided it can be done according to the pro-
gramme. Pasturing saves a great deal of
trouble (besdes making a great deal), but a
farmer hardly feels safe trusting to pasturing
his stock on the herbage which nature pro-
vides, when just as likely as not, nature will
knock all his calculations into smithereens
by not providing any. No doubt it is more
natural for cattle to Craze their own herbage 9
rather than have it cut for them. But We
are not living in state of nature. To be-
gin with, there are fences in the way. In q
state Of nature, when cattle cannot get feed
in one section, they migrate to where they
can. Fences, the first element of the pas.
ture system, make this impossible. How is
it that sticklers for nature advocate a policy
which necessitatcs cutting the whole country
into ten-acre lots, with impossible barriers
between
1t is wholly a question of expediency, ant
to be determined by value of land, price o
labor, cost of fencing material, and value o
manure. This last is. an important item. l
a farmer needs more fertilizers for his crops
as who does not soiling cattle rather thai
pasturing them is the way to increase the
manure pile and bring the land into higher
condition.
The experience Of the past season ha
shown that whether farmers pasture or not
they cannot safely ignore soling. Men VIII
believe in laying up for rainy day, ough
also to make some provision for seasons whel
the rainy days don't come. A piece o
drilled corn for fodder will come handy fo
winter use if not needed before Most farm
ers will do well to make beginning in soil
ing, keeping their working horses in stabl,
during the summer, and feeding their milcl
COWS something extra whenever the pasture
fail. This is always good policy, and no
body need call it soiling unless he chooses
This will also utilize all the advantages
such as they are, of pasturing. After tn
first of September, much Of the growth Q
clover and other succulent grass can be cate
down with little or no damage, provided tn
ground is dry. BY and by, as fencing ina
terial becomes more costly, fences will b
fewer and fields larger. Wherever land
dear, the space covered by fences, and tn
weeds they harbor are important item,
The old fashioned Virginia worm fence is
relic Of the original wilderness from whic
our civilization has been hewn. The iu
proved agriculture to which we are comm
demands more labor, aud no item will pa
better than the time and work needed 10 sol
ing cattle. For largo sections of the cour
try soiling is, and long will be, impossible
but this is the misfortune rather than the aG
vantage OF such regions. They are not tn
sections which will show the most rapid ad
vance in agricultural improvement.-CO,
Country Gentleman.