138 THE PRINCIPLES OF 



the grass seeds be sown by means of a seed-barrow upon the 

 surface, and lightly harrow them in with a grass seed-harrow 

 made for the purpose, or with a brush-harrow, or with a 

 chain-harrow. This is done in the month of April upon 

 young barley or young corn. The corn grows and ripens, 

 and at harvest time is severed from the ground which the 

 grass continues to occupy. 



One of the simplest cultivations I know is that of trifolium 

 incarnatum, or crimson clover, a very useful fodder crop, which 

 might be considered in connection with the next group; but 

 I prefer to take it in connection with the cultivation of 

 clovers. This plant is used largely over the southern counties 

 of England, and it gives in the spring of the year a very 

 abundant crop, well suited for sheep. All the cultivation 

 requisite is to give the stubble a regular good dragging or 

 harrowing, say twice in one direction, twice across, and twice 

 diagonally, then wheel in twenty pounds of tri folium, give it 

 another harrowing and a rolling, and that is all. It is simply 

 scratched . in. This treatment is much better than plough- 

 ing the ground, because trifolium. dearly loves the soil to be 

 in a firm state ; it likes a fine seed-bed, but it must have the 

 ground firm below. 



There is a great similarity between the cultivation of 

 fodder crops and the cultivation of corn crops, many of our 

 fodder crops being in point of fact corn crops. For fodder 

 purposes we grow, especially in the south of England, large 

 breadths of winter barley, winter oats and rye, which are 

 cereals. The ground is ploughed and then harrowed, and 

 the two and a half bushels of seed required are drilled and 

 harrowed in. The other principal fodder crop, namely, 

 vetches, has a very simple cultivation, consisting of ploughing, 

 harrowing, and drilling, and harrowing again after the drill. 



Fodder crops are very generally used as catch crops, or in 

 other words, they are crops taken between two main crops, 



