108 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



tare crop, assuming that the land contains sufficient 

 plant food and the requisite amount of moisture is 

 available. The latter crop may be allowed to get 

 three or four feet high, the vetches be in flower, and 

 the corn all shot, and providing it is cut with a high 

 stubble, say about 6" high, a second growth will 

 result, and in a moist, growthy season even a third, 

 providing also the land is in good condition or is 

 liberally manured. The second crop is quite as 

 heavy, and the third about half as heavy, as the first. 

 During the past year, for instance, the crop shown 

 in the accompanying illustration was grazed with 

 ewes and lambs in early May; next it was cut for 

 ensilage on July the 11th, and the third crop, or 

 second cutting was as seen in the photograph on 

 September 25th. 



Leaving out the weight of the early grazing, a 

 total yield of 30 tons per statute acre of green fodder 

 was obtained which, without going into figures, is 

 quite as valuable as 6 tons of vetch hay or 7| tons of 

 clover hay per acre. Yet a few years ago, before the 

 Continuous Cropping system was started on the farm, 

 it was considered a fine crop if a yield of 30 cwt. of 

 hay per statute acre was obtained, plus, of course, 

 the aftergrass, which would not be more valuable 

 than the early sheep grazing, which the tare crop had 

 provided. 



That a tare crop can be cut several times in a season 

 is a matter of surprise to many people. The crop 

 illustrated was a surprise to a party of professors and 

 other agricultural experts, including practical farmers, 

 who visited the farm on the day the photograph was 

 taken. It would not have been a surprise had the 

 experts and farmers ever thought it worth their while 

 to tackle agricultural questions from the business or 

 economic standpoint. 



