CHAPTER XI 



THE SOILING OF TARES 



If there be one feature of the Continuous Cropping 

 system, upon which one can speak with emphasis, it 

 is the greater amount of stock which can be fed on 

 fodder crops as compared with pasture. 



It requires about two acres of first-class, and from 

 three to four acres of inferior, pasture to summer-feed 

 a dairy cow or any full-grown beast, whereas by 

 devoting the land to fodder crop growing, the stock- 

 carrying capacity of the land can be trebled. The 

 small farmer might well be advised to substitute all 

 fodder crops in lieu of pasture, and the large farmer 

 could, with advantage, devote from 25 to 50 per cent, 

 of his present pasture to the growing of soiling crops 

 for the summer and autumn feeding of stock. 



Where the feeding of green food in summer is 

 undertaken — summer soiling as it is called — it is very 

 desirable to arrange for a continuous supply of vetches 

 throughout the summer and autumn. In order to 

 accomplish this, it is sometimes recommended that 

 tares should be sown at different times of the year — 

 an autumn sowing of winter vetches, a very early 

 spring sowing, a late spring sowing, and a summer 

 sowing of spring vetches. 



In practice, however, this system of successional 

 sowings is, for climatic reasons, not always possible, 

 while the spring and often the summer sowings must, 



