FARM CROPS 17 



of plant food being lost in the water, which 

 drains so easily from these soils. Again, these 

 crops give a regular supply of bulky green 

 fodder, on which sheep can be remuneratively 

 kept all through the summer, as such soils 

 cannot grow pastures good enough to provide 

 sufficient sheep food in the hot months ; finally, 

 by cropping the arable land in this way, and 

 continually feeding off with sheep, the soil is 

 cheaply manured by the droppings of the 

 animals, and consolidated by their treading, 

 the result being that the land is got into good 

 condition to grow a remunerative crop of corn 

 next year, which it could not otherwise grow at 

 anything like the cost. By modifications of this 

 same system sheep are maintained on arable 

 farms all over the country, but where the land 

 is heavy, sheep are not suitable, and bullocks 

 are kept instead, being fattened indoors in 

 winter and their dung used to manure the 

 arable land. 



Catch Cropping. — We have now con- 

 sidered the systems on which crops are grown, 

 but there is one practice that remains to be 

 referred to, namely, that known as catch 

 cropping. This is the growth of a quick- 



C 



