Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-07
Soiling Cattle.

WI not attract general attention in the
West for several years to come and vet
II 1t shall e become an imnortant
question, it is one now. If %soilin% IL
Rlohtaple IN New England or New
aork, 1t is profitable in the West, and
y! IS no part OF wisdom to refuse to con-
elaer It, because we have an abundance
I cheaper land and think we can afford
K be profligate. The time will come
when those who till our soil will have
much more subdued ideas han wa
ave: During our lives it is not nroha-
Ole that the fertility of our land will he
exhausted, or that cheap land can not
be obtained. And yet the fertility Of
large sections of the country has been
exhausted during our lives. and even
IN the new West, land has risen in nrice
from a dollar and fifty cents an acre
t fifty and one hundred dollars. It
Will not he very far in the future when
n man will not attempt to cultivate
an entire township, and not v a half
section. Farms will 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 as much money upon
the eighth of a section as we do upon a
quarter, we are letting the capital
which represents an eighth of a section
lie idle. A subject like soiling, there.
fore, is of present interest to every man
who owns or cultivates a farm. The
Eastern advocates of the system say
that it will enable them upon their high
priced Eastern land to successfully
compete with the beef producers on u
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 i'm
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 produce
ton, unless soiling is practiced. If that
is true, thousands of 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, I'M
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 u only salvation, and
even with that WI are not doing what
we might do, if 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 a 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
loose for years-so to speak-before
people could get their eyes open wide
enough to discern their value. In fact,
it is common experience that an unmit-
igated humbug stands a 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 a large extent of
land was necessary to enable the farmer
to keep many headof cattle. That mis-
take, he said, led to an absolute waste
of land, in retaining a large portion of
it for pasture. He kept twenty head of
CATTLE upon seventeen acres by the
soiling system, and laid it down as q
fact, established by his WI experience,
that n acre soiled from will produce
at least as much as three acres pastured
in the usual way; and the lowest esti-
rnofo vyo think ho avon roola WIN, that
twenty head of cattle could be kept the
year round, under this system, upon
thirty acres of good arabic land. Mr..
1. D. 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. It is not. difficult to
understand, of course, that there must
be considerable waste in pasturing as it
is generally done, and there must be
some, even if it is done with much more
care than is usually exercised. The
walking owe it by the cattle must de-
stroy some; fouling it will destroy some
of its value as p%asturage; lying on it,
breathing upon it, and preventing it
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
owe the average weight. This would
feed twenty cows of 800 to 1000 pounds
weight, ten days, OR COW for 200
days. The second and third cuttings
would furnish two-thirds as much more,
or food for one COW n year. 1t is es-
timated that millet would yield from
10000 to 10000 pounds per acre of food
for one cow for 200 days. Now if these
estimates are correct, the n acre
stands out as being able to furnish what
three or four acres do under the usual
method. In addition to the saving of
land which is here Indicated, there
would be the saving of fences, which
is a considerable item, as all well un-