ARABLE OR GRASS? 



be able to create these conditions, then all that is 

 required is to turn the big chunks over at intervals, 

 and it follows that any couch grass present will be 

 squeezed to death by the forces of Nature. 



Root Cultivations 



In different counties there is, I know, a rule which 

 governs the date of sowing and one assumes, of 

 course, that there may be some good reason to get 

 an early start, but this early start has never fasci- 

 nated me. I do like the ground to get warm before 

 getting in the roots and kale (other than the man- 

 gold crop). Even the latter overtakes a late start, 

 and this late start often gives you another chance 

 of a late skim, and this late skim will inevitably 

 save you a hand hoe costing perhaps a pound 

 per acre. 



Too often do we see farmers plant even mangolds 

 too early and then spend the summer trying to 

 clean them and never succeeding. You often hear a 

 farmer say, " I must get my mangolds and kale in 

 early and get them hoed out before haymaking." 

 How often do they do it ? Not once in ten years. 

 Would they not be better advised to get on with the 

 haymaking, weather permitting of course, and then 

 deal with the root hoeing perhaps half-way through ? 

 Surface weeds make very little growth until the land 

 begins to get a little warm, and your root crop, too, 

 shows a strong objection to these cold conditions. 

 Then why ask your soil to take care of the seed 

 whilst you are dealing with the surface weed ? 



75 



