64 



straw to the acre, and the spring crop that follows it 

 will reward you well for your trouble. 



The very day that you spread straw on a bare field, 

 it begins to pay you an interest ; it may be of 6 or 10 

 per cent, on the investment. 



But if you expose it in the barnyard to rot, you 

 may lose a part of it by leaching, and get no interest 

 from the balance, from six to nine months to come. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



FORAGE FOR THE HORSES ON THE FARM. 



When we have concluded to use green crops for 

 manure, of course, we should leave all the clover, and 

 all other vegetation stand for this purpose, and cut 

 as little as possible to feed to animals. 



It will not do to take the clover, nor the Hungarian 

 grass, nor the sowed corn from the fields intended 

 for wheat. 



We should have a clear understanding of the 

 amount of forage which our stock will need and then 

 make ample provision for them. 



What is the experience of the best fanners upon 

 this subject ? 



Column writes in his European Agriculture : " It 

 is estimated by many intelligent farmers in England, 

 that the horse-teams require for their maintenance 

 full one-fourth of the produce of the soil." 



Again he says : " Indeed, so far as my observation 

 goes, there is no single source of expense, none 

 which abstracts so much from the profits of farming, 



