12 FARM MANAGEMENT 



sown after the corn, because no crop takes so 

 much plant-food out of the soil as does corn, 

 and therefore to restore the fertility of the soil, 

 roots are grown, because, as they are not sown 

 till later than other crops, they allow plenty 

 of time for the land to be thoroughly well-cul- 

 tivated and manured, and as the root crop 

 takes but little from the soil, the land is left in 

 excellent condition for growing a corn crop. 

 The land being now restored to good condition, 

 a corn crop is sown next, but, as roots are gene- 

 rally eaten off the land by sheep during the 

 winter, an autumn corn crop cannot be grown, 

 and so a spring corn crop is sown instead, that 

 is, oats or barley instead of wheat. Next year 

 the land is occupied by a forage crop, usually 

 clover or clover and grasses e.g., rye ; this crop 

 restores to the land a great deal of plant-food, 

 in the form of nitrates, that the corn has taken, 

 and so prepares it to receive an autumn-sown 

 corn crop, namely wheat. Clover follows corn 

 for the further reason that It requires two years' 

 growth, so that by sowing It In among the 

 spring corn It can grow with It, and will not 

 occupy the land alone until after the corn has 

 been harvested ; In this way a year Is saved. 



