CROPS ON DAIRY FARMS. 65 



general or even common in England. Few, if any, dairy farms 

 in this country are likely to become wholly arable farms until 

 such changes in prices have occurred as will make them profit- 

 able on the Continental system. On the other hand, it may 

 freely be admitted that dairy farms wholly, or almost wholly, 

 under permanent grass are not quite what dairy farms ought 

 to be, though there are many such to be found. Arable crops 

 of one sort and another are always desirable where cows in 

 milk are kept, and, speaking generally, the greater variety of 

 them there is, the better. 



Arable Crops and Grass. 



I will assume that we have a 2oo-acre farm of good land, 

 60 or 70 acres of which are usually under arable crops or tem- 

 porary grass, and on which 50 to 60 dairy cows are kept, as 

 well as the young stock incidental to them. On a farm of this 

 kind there would be about 50 acres of meadow land and the 

 rest in permanent pasture. This seems to be a nice apportion- 

 ment of the land to pasture, meadow, and arable crops ; and as 

 the meadow land is a very important feature, I will begin with it. 



That our meadows should be made to yield large crops of 

 hay is, of course, a desirable thing, and a dairy farmer should, if 

 possible, always have two or three old ricks to begin the winter 

 with, and as a " nest-egg " against a season when the crops are 

 lighter than usual. As a general thing it is desirable, but not 

 always practicable, to manure meadows lightly all over once a 

 year, for two light dressings are better than one heavy one 

 that is, a light dressing each year, rather than a heavy one each 

 alternate year. The cattle will hardly make manure enough to 

 give all the meadows a fair dressing once a year, but the re- 

 mainder should have a dressing of artificial manure. During 

 many years I used to dress my meadows in this way, using i 

 cwt. of nitrate of soda, 2 cwt. of mineral superphosphate, and 

 3 cwt of kainit per acre, supplying in this way the nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash which plants require to promote 

 their growth. This particular mixture of artificial manure is 



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