202 FARMING ON FACTORY LINES 



What tremendous possibilities there are in con- 

 nection with Continuous Cropping on mountainy or 

 hilly land ! On such land, pasture, if one can by 

 courtesy use such a term in speaking of these moun- 

 tain stretches, holds sway. Tillage on these moun- 

 tainy lands on the old plan is entirely out of the ques- 

 tion. Such tillage means an impossible amount of 

 work in carting the crops home and manure back. 

 It means a big rush of work in spring for cultivation 

 and a big rush in autumn for harvesting. These diffi- 

 culties have proved to be too great even for the low- 

 land farmer, hence the tremendous decrease in the 

 tillage area for the last generation or so. 



A MOUNTAIN FARM ROTATION 



Again. Bad as climate difficulties may be for the 

 lowland farmer they are infinitely greater for the 

 mountain man. A study of any rainfall chart will 

 show that whilst there may be an annual rainfall of 

 30 inches in the lowlands, the annual rainfall in a 

 neighbouring hill district only a few miles distant may 

 be 50 inches or even higher. Apart from the rainfall, 

 as previously stated, the crop and manure carting in- 

 volved in the ordinary system of tillage makes the 

 system on a mountain farm prohibitive. Between bad 

 roads, or the entire lack of roads, and steep inclines, 

 a horse cannot haul half an ordinary load either up 

 or down the hill. 



DO AWAY WTTH CARTING 



In laying out a suitable rotation for the tilling of 

 hilly land it is therefore imperative to dispense, as 

 far as possible, with carting; to grow crops which will 



