154 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



where the crop is sown early, say, in the month of 

 June. 



Sown at this time, the crop when properly 

 manured, and tilled, will be from three to four feet 

 high at the beginning of October. Such a luxuriant 

 crop in cold districts must be used up before the 

 advent of December, as, if left out through the winter, 

 the rape portion of the crop, if not entirely killed, may 

 be partly destroyed. After grazing down during 

 October, November, and early December, the rape and 

 kale portions of the crop in cold districts will not 

 make much growth by the following spring, but the 

 rye grass, even if the rape be entirely destroyed, will, 

 in most winters, give valuable sheep feeding in April. 



If, as may happen in a backward spring, the rye 

 grass does not make sufficient headway to permit of 

 much grazing, the crop is, nevertheless, valuable to 

 turn in as green manure. There are, however, very 

 few districts, where rye grass sown in the manner 

 stated and properly manured, will not give good sheep 

 grazing by late April. 



Proper manuring means in this particular case, to 

 have the land in good heart to begin with, and then 

 to apply a good dressing of a quick-acting manure 

 like nitrate of soda in early spring. For such a crop 

 it is recommended to give about 1 cwt. of nitrate of 

 soda in mid-February, and a similar dressing in the 

 first week of March. In theory, it is urged "that 

 nitrate of soda should not be applied until the spring 

 is well advanced and growth has commenced," but 

 there are many theoretical things written in books 

 which do not coincide with practice. The idea of 

 delaying the application of nitrate of soda is to avoid 

 the washing out of the land of such a soluble manure, 

 but there is little loss in this direction, if the land 

 is carrying a crop. 



