Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Aug., 1909. 



wliole year romul. Tlie three months in 

 which they are hand-fed is the critical 

 rime of the year. Sncculent feed dur- 

 iii": Marcli, April and May insnres the 

 success of the coming lamb and means 

 that its mother will have a good supply 

 of milk. Lambs reared under thes-e 

 conditions are just the ones which can 

 be sold with profit for the export trade 

 six months later on. Such a result 

 cannot be obtained by dry feeding 

 alone. The cost of harvesting the 

 crop, chaffing it into the silo and feed- 

 ing it to the sheep, including binder 

 twine, is less than 3s. 6d. per ton. 

 What other system can produce equal 

 icsnlts, and this in a district where the 

 annual rainfall is only 18 inches 1 



But silage is only one of the possi- 

 l)ilities whicli may be exploited by- 

 means of the plough by the up-to-date 

 farmer. In all the area we have been 

 ^4 considering, the extra rainfall means 

 H that rape can be grown either as an 

 ^ autumn or a spring crop without much 

 ^ danger of failure. Furthermoi-e, peas 

 ^ can be grown for sheep and for alt 

 ^ kinds of live stock with absolute 

 H certainty. There is no need to harvest 

 M this crop. Pigs or sheep will do this 

 < for themselves, and, moreover, the 

 farmer need not worry himself as to 

 whether the crop produces a large 

 number of bushels of grain per acre. 

 The pea crop is at its best when in full 

 flower. Instead of letting it go to 

 grain, if tlie land is wanted for other 

 purposes, it can be made into hay. 

 Pea hay has exactly the same value as 

 lucerne hay, and all kinds of live stock 

 very soon become exceedingly fond of 

 it. The additional advantages of peas 

 in adding nitrogen to the soil which 

 they have obtained fi'om the atmos- 

 phere, and also in producing that kind 

 of food which is richest in the flesh- 

 forming constituents, and therefore 

 most valuable to all kinds of live stock, 

 are two reasons why the area under 

 peas should be steadily extended from 

 year to year. 



Again, of all the area under (|ues- 

 tion, summer fodder crops can l>j 



