Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/396

Rh 370 AGRICULTURE [GRASSES. about 3 inches in the rows, or broadcast in beds. As early in spring as the land on which the crop is to be grown is dry enough for being worked, let it be thoroughly and deeply stirred by one or more turns of the grubber. Assuming that a liberal dressing of dung has been put into it at the autumn ploughing, 3 or 4 cwt. of guano are now scattered evenly over the surface and ploughed in by a deep square furrow. A lot of plants being brought from the seed-bed, a band of planters, each provided with a dibble and a piece of rod 27 inches long, proceed to insert a row of plants the length of the rods apart in each third plough-seam, the result of which is that the plants stand in regular rows 27 inches apart every way, and can afterwards be kept clean by horse and hand hoeing like any other drilled green crop. Cabbages are much in repute with breeders of rams and prize sheep, which fatten rapidly on this food. Cabbages are usually drawn off and given to sheep on their pastures, or to cattle in byres and yards ; but they are also fed off, where they grow, by sheep, in the same way as turnips. It is an exhausting crop when wholly drawn off, and on this account is sometimes grown with advantage on spots greatly enriched by irrigation with sewage or otherwise, and where the succeeding grain crop is expected to suffer from over-luxuriance, the cabbages being grown, as the phrase goes, to &quot; take the shine out of it.&quot; In favourable circumstances, from 30 to 40 tons per acre of this nutritious crop may be obtained. From what has been said it is evidently not adapted for extensive field culture ; but on most farms a few acres might be grown annually with great advantage. It is a peculiarly suitable food for either sheep or cattle during the autumnal tran sition from grass to turnips. Section 8. Rape. This plant is peculiarly adapted for peaty soils, and is accordingly a favourite crop in the fen lands of England, and on recently reclaimed mosses and moors elsewhere. Its growth is greatly stimulated by the ashes resulting from the practice of paring and burning. In these cases it is sown broadcast ; but when such soils are brought into a regular course of tillage, it is drilled, and otherwise treated in the same manner as turnips. As we shall consider its culture under the head of &quot; Oil-producing Plants &quot; (chap, xiv. sec. 5), we shall only say further here, that its highly nutritious leaves and stems are usually consumed by folding sheep upon it where it grows, and that there is no green food upon which they fatten faster. Occasionally it is carried to the homestead, and used with other forage in carrying out the system of soiling cattle. Section 9. Kold-Rdbi. This plant has been frequently recommended to the notice of farmers of late years. Like mangold, it is better adapted than the turnip for strong soils and dry and warm climates. It may be either sown on drills in the same manner as the turnip, or sown in a seed-bed and afterwards transplanted. The latter plan is expensive, if it is desired to cultivate the crops to any extent ; but is commendable for providing a supply of plants to make good deficiencies in the rows of other crops, or when a small quantity only is wanted. By sowing a plot of ground in March in some sheltered corner, and transplanting the crop early in May, it is more likely to prosper than in any other way. Cattle and sheep are fond of it, and it is said not to impart any unpleasant flavour to milk. We have seen a few trials of it in Scotland as a field crop ; but, from whatever cause, the weight of food produced per acre was greatly less than from the mangolds and swedes growing alongside of it. For further information about this plant, the reader is referred to the Book of the Farm, vol. ii p. 87 ; Hewlett Davis s Farming Essays, p. 90 ; Lawson s Synopsis of the Vegetable Products of Scotland, div. ii. p. 109. Lawson says that the pulp or flesh of kohl has the same taste as the leaves of the cabbage, and hence its adaptation as food for milch cows. CHAPTER XIII. CULTIVATED CHOPS. HERBAGE AND FORAGE CROPS. Section 1. Grasses, &amp;lt;kc. Under this general heading we propose to include what we have to say concerning the grasses, whether natural or cultivated, and those other crops which are grown expressly for the sake of the cattle food yielded by their leaves and stems. This kind of farm produce is either consumed where it grows by depasturing with live stock, or mown and given to them in a green state under cover, or dried and stored for after use. It thus embraces the cultivation of these crops, and their disposal, whether by grazing, soiling, or haymaking. Following this method, we shall first of all briefly describe the cultivation of those pasture and forage crops which are of best repute in British husbandry. Tillage lands are now everywhere cropped according to some settled rotation, in which the well-recognised principles of the alternate husbandry are carried out accord ing to the actual circumstances of each locality. With rare exceptions, such lands at stated intervals bear a crop of the clovers or cultivated grasses. As these are visually sown in mixture, especially when intended for pasturage, the resulting crop is technically called &quot;seeds.&quot; As it is of importance to have the land clean and in good heart when such crops are sown, they usually follow the grain crop which immediately succeeds the fallowing process. Being for the most part of a lower habit of growth, these can be sown and grown along with white corn crops without injury to cither. When the latter are harvested, the former, being already established in the soil, at once occupy it, and grow apace. By this arrangement there is therefore secured an important saving both of time and til lage. Barley being the crop amongst which the seeds of the clovers and grasses are most frequently sown, and amongst which, upon the whole, they thrive best, it is customary to sow these small seeds at the same time as the barley, and to cover them in with a single stroke of the common harrows. This is erroneous practice, both as regards the time and manner of sowing these small seeds. We have already mentioned, in the proper place, that barley should be sown as early in March as possible. Now, if the clovers, &c., are sown as early as this, they are almost certain to get so forward as both to rob the barley of its due share of nourishment, and, when it is reaped, to bulk so largely in the sheaves as to retard their drying, and aggravate the risk of their being ill harvested. It is found, too, that if there be plants enough, the clovers stand the winter better, and ultimately yield a better crop, when, at the reaping of the grain crop, they are puny-looking than when they are very strong. It is better, therefore, to delay the sowing of the small seeds till the end of April or beginning of May. As to the manner of covering them in, we have to remark that the smallness of these seeds and their mode of germinating alike require that they receive only the very slightest covering of soil. This important fact is so well illustrated in the following table, which exhibits the results of some carefully-conducted experiments, reported to the Highland Society by Mr Stirling of Glenbervie, that we shall here quote it : &quot; Column I. contains the scientific names. Column IT. contains the average weight of the seeds per bushel in pounds.