96 PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



6. Fruit Crops. — These may be grouped as (a) stone 

 fruits, such as peach, plum, and cherry; (6) pome fruits, 

 such as apple, pear, and quince; (c) small fruits, such as 

 strawberries, grapes, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and 

 blackberries; {d) citrus fruits, such as orange, lemon, pomelo 

 or grape fruit, and lime fruit. 



7. Timber Crops, or products of the forest. 



FORAGE CROPS. 



The Soiling System. — One thing that the dairy farmer 

 needs to keep in mind is the succession of green forage for 

 use during the summer months when the weather is dry and 

 the pastures are short. Crops grown to be cut and fed green 

 to stock are called soiling crops. Such a system of feeding 

 is called the soiling system. A better name would be the 

 green-feed system. The soiling system used on any farm 

 may be either (1) entire soiling, when green feed is provided 

 for the whole season, or (2) partial soiling, where it is used 

 in combination with pastures. 



The need for preparation in advance is very great on all 

 dairy farms in this climate. The weather statistics show 

 that we always have least rainfall in midsummer. There 

 is certain to be enough drought each summer to cause a 

 great shrinkage in the milk flow from herds fed on pastures. 



Just when the drought will come depends somewhat upon 

 the locality and also the season. Frequently it is in July. 

 Dairymen, however, prepare themselves to take care of the 

 herd regardless of the dates when the dry weather comes. 



In a single county alone each summer there are thousands 

 of dollars lost by the dairymen, due to the lack of green 

 feed during the dry, hot days. In some localities the shrink- 

 age of milk-flow is forty per cent in two weeks' time. In 

 other cases the loss is about twenty-five per cent in the 

 same time. Who is the loser at such a time? Is it the dairy 

 farmer, or is it the buyer? Surely the farmer gets nothing 

 for the milk which his cows fail to produce. He stands the 



