i6 FARM MANAGEMENT 



gained by growing as many different crops 

 as possible ; the labour bill is lessened, as the 

 sowing and harvesting of each crop varies 

 somewhat, thereby providing regular employ- 

 ment for the farm staff without having to 

 engage an extra number at any one time ; a 

 serious loss from insects or plant diseases 

 attacking any particular crop is avoided ; a 

 better balance is kept in the food stores of the 

 soil, as differeht crops take different amounts 

 of the various food ingredients ; and, what is 

 equally important, their roots feed at different 

 depths in the soil, and so do not exhaust any 

 particular layer. If the season be bad for one 

 crop it may be good for others. Finally, food is 

 provided for the stock at all periods of the 

 year. 



On light thin soils, such as the Downs, this 

 diversity of crops is a prominent feature in the 

 husbandry, the system here being to keep the 

 land continually cropped with quick-growing 

 crops following one another closely, chiefly 

 forage crops, and feeding them off on the land 

 by sheep. The advantages of this system of 

 farming for such soils are, that by keeping the 

 land continually under crops there is little risk 



