136 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



hay as to form a properly-balanced ration for all 

 kinds of stock. 



(5) The winter greens along with sweet silage 

 are a complete substitute for roots. 



THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL 



Root-growing as carried out under the present 

 system is far from profitable. The crop is usually 

 sown on a lea oat stubble, which is left uncropped 

 from the time the corn is harvested in August and 

 early September, until the roots are sown in late 

 April or May, and sometimes June of the fol- 

 lowing year. In addition, the bulk of cultivation 

 for a root crop is carried out in early spring, when, 

 as already indicated, climatic conditions make the 

 cultivation of all except the lightest soils very 

 difficult. Finally, the root crop requires a great deal 

 of labour, especially hand labour, which is very 

 costly, and not always procurable. 



WHERE ROOTS PAY 



For roots, the land is ploughed in autumn, cross 

 ploughed in spring, then cultivated and worked down 

 to a fine seed bed. At this stage, especially on the 

 heavier classes of land, a downpour of rain may not 

 only stop the tillage operations but may result in a 

 large amount of the cultivation having to be done 

 again. The subsequent manuring, splitting of drills, 

 and sowing, seed-thinning, hand and horse-hoeing, 

 harvesting and clamping, with subsequent pulping, 

 slicing and feeding of the crop, need no description. 

 An estimate may be made on paper to show a profit 



