94 THE STOCKFEEDER'S COMPANION 



of vetches. The resulting crop, which is bulky and 

 very nutritious, can be cut about four to six months 

 after sowing. 



Italian Rye Grass can be seeded down in early 

 spring at the rate of 2 to 2j bushels per acre. It will 

 then be ready for cutting the following autumn, and if 

 well manured, may be cut three to five times the 

 following year. 



The rye grass may also be seeded down with 

 a straw crop in the usual manner. 



Maize. This plant is now being grown more exten- 

 sively in the South of England. The best variety 

 is the " White Horse-tooth," which grows quickly 

 and produces a large amount of succulent food. The 

 seed should not be sown earlier than June, and at the 

 rate of i to 2 bushels per acre. In order to prevent to 

 some extent the depredations of wood-pigeons, the seed 

 should be treated with tar or red lead before sowing. 

 The crop can usually be cut in August and September. 



Lucerne (Alfalfa) may be sown down in April at the 

 rate of 20 to 30 Ibs. of seed per acre, either with a straw 

 crop or without. If with a cereal crop, care should be 

 taken not to sow the cereal too thick, otherwise it may 

 smother the lucerne out. A dressing of basic slag 

 and kainit with the cereal crop would strengthen the 

 lucerne plants and make the crop more productive. 1 

 The following year the lucerne could be cut four or five 

 times, and may be left down for three to five years. 



Sainfoin, which grows well on very dry, chalky soils, 

 may be seeded down in the same way as lucerne, 

 but with about 50 Ibs. of milled seeds per acre. It may 

 1 At the West of Scotland Experimental Farm (Kilmarnock) 

 the lucerne on plots, which had been inoculated with the nodule- 

 forming bacteria for this crop, was much more vigorous than on 

 the untreated plots. 



