The Russellville Democrat., 1883-09-27


The question Of soiling Il one that
will not attract general attention in the
West Tor several years to come, and yet
Il II shall ever become ~ important
question, it is one no Il eoilin~ 4
profitable In New Hd or Naw
York, it is profitab18 n he West, ana
it is no part Of wisdom ID refuse to con-
slider it, because we have - abundance
Of cheaper land and think We can afford
to be profligate. The time will come
when those who till our soil will have
much more subdued ideas than we
have. During our lives 1t is not proba-
BILE that the fertility of our land win be
exhausted, or that cheap land can not
be obtained. And vet the fertility Of
large sections of the country has been
exhausted during our lives, and even
IN the new West, land has risen in price
from dollar and fifty cents an acre
10 fifty and one hundred dollars. = :.
will not be very far in the future when
one man viii not attempt to cultivate
an sDGhe ..s5w nship, and not even half
section. Farms viii be smaller and
better cultivated; and the question
which presses for answer to-day is,
could we now not do better with less
land, If we adoptad better methods? If
we can make just az much money upon
the eighth Of section as we do upon a
quarter, we are letting the capital
which represents an eighth of section
lie idle. A subject like soiling. there
fore, is of present interest TO every man
who owns or cultivates farm. The
II ~ Il -
that it will enable them upon their high
priced Eastern<land to successfully
compete with the beef producers on our
cheap Western lands. If that is so, and
the system should be generally adopted
in the East, what is to become of us in
Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin,
and other Western States where inn
proved farms are worth as much per
acre as land is worth in the East, unless
we too adopt the system? Prof. Stewart
regards land that is worth fifty dollars
per acre too valuable for beef produc-
ton, unless soiling is practiced. If that
is true, thousands of our Western farm
ers are now interested in the subject.
The Rural has long recognized the fact
that much of our Western land is too
valuable to make beef production, un-
connected with the dairy, profitable.
In Michigan, Illinois or Wisconsin, we
cannot hope to compete in producing
beef with those who are on the plains.
The dairy is our only salvation, and
even with that we are not doing what
we might do. il the claims for soiling
are well founded. We do not mean to
affirm here that they are, but simply
propose to notice them as being part
of an interesting and important matter.
Selling is by no means q new thing,
but the slowness of people to adopt it is
no argument against it, although it
might seem to be. Some Of the most
valuable innovations have laid around
people could get their eyes open wide
enough to discern their value. In fact,
it is common experience that an unnlit-
igated humbug stands better show for
recognition than does something that is
possessed of real merit. Now, as long
ago as 1914 Josiah Quincy practiced
soiling, and in 1859 he said that it was an
error to suppose that = large extent of
land was necessary to enable the farmer
to keep many head of cattle. That mis-
take, he said, led to an absolute waste
of land. in retaining q large portion of
it for pasture. He kept twenty head OF
cattle upon seventeen acres by the
soiling system, and laid it down as a
fact, established by his own experience,
that one acre soiled from will produce
at least as much as three acres pastured
in the usual way; and the lowest esti-
L. L l. IL.
twenty head of cattle could be kept the
year round, under this system, upon
thirty acres of good arabic land. Mr..
/. ID. Powell, of New Jersey, says that
he keeps one hundred cows upon one
hundred acres. Prof. Stewart gives
equally favorable testimony, and he
claims to be the first writer that ever
advocated the general adoption OF this
method of feeding. 1t is pot difficult TO
understand, of course, that there must
be considerable waste in pasturing as 10
is generally done, and there must be
some, even if it is done with much more
care than is usually exercised. The
walking over it by the cattle must de-
stroy some; fouling il will destroy some
of its value as pasturage; lying on it,
breathing upon it, and preventing il
from having rapid growth, must be
detrimental. Now let us take Prof.
Stewards figures, as found in his
work ON Feeding Animals, to show
what an acre Of grass, if preserved
from all these hindrances to free growth
will do. He supposes that an acre of
green red clover will weigh 10000
pounds, and that is rather under than