32 FARM MANAGEMENT 



month of the year, and to arrange to have the 

 same available, as any deficiency means buying 

 in food, which, as a rule, is ruinously expensive, 

 or being forced to sell off some of the stock at 

 times unfavourable to selling. 



Drought. — Calculating supplies beforehand 

 can, of course, only be done approximately, as 

 the weather, plant diseases and insects are 

 always liable to upset one's estimates. The 

 weather, in particular, when it takes the form of 

 a summer drought, may have a serious effect 

 on the supplies of food for the subsequent 

 winter, and coping with such a contingency 

 merits consideration here. 



Lack of water adversely effects swedes and 

 turnips very quickly, but not mangels, which 

 are splendid drought-resisters. To maintain 

 the supply of moisture for the roots, the land 

 must be kept well-hoed, not merely for the 

 purpose of keeping down weeds, but in order to 

 keep the surface soil in a fine, crumbly state, 

 as this condition encourages the rise of water 

 from the subsoil to the upper layers, and so 

 gives the roots the moisture so indispensable 

 to them. This renders them more or less 

 independent of the lack of rain that drought 



