

AGRICULTURE 



sown with kohl rabi. To some extent these are superseding the swede, 

 being less affected by dry weather, and form splendid fattening for sheep or 

 for consumption in the cattle-shed. Carrots are grown in small patches ; the 

 cost of cleaning was always a heavy item of expense in cultivation, and with 

 the scarcity of labour many abandon them. In the early decades of the 

 nineteenth century the sands east of Woodbridge were noted for their crops of 

 carrots. Cabbages were the staple winter cattle food a hundred years ago, but 

 after the introduction of mangolds they were less grown. Forty years ago it 

 was rare to see a field of cattle cabbages, but there are more grown now, and 

 not many stock farmers are without a few acres. But the white turnip is 

 still the mainstay of the flockmaster. It costs less to produce than any 

 other root crop, and with the large Norfolk white variety to begin with, and 

 the hardy green top for winter and spring feeding, it lasts through the 

 lambing season till the rye and rye-grass layers are fit to feed. The yellow 

 Aberdeen hybrid is grown on stiffer land, and comes to hand earlier than 

 the swede, and may be carted off the heavy lands in time to get the plough to 

 work in December. Clamped round the cornstacks and covered with straw, 

 it keeps well into the winter, but is less grown now than in former years. 



Among green crops red clover is the most popular for artificial grass hay, 

 or stover, as it is always called in Suffolk. It is mostly sown behind the drill 

 when barley seeding comes on. But neither red nor white clover succeeds 

 if grown on the same land oftener than once in twelve years in this county. 

 For sheep-feed on light land white clover is freely used. Grown for seed on 

 heavy land it yields a good return ; but it is said two crops of white clover 

 seed were never grown in the same field during one man's lifetime. 



Sainfoin is expensive to sow, and not on every soil can a plant be assured. 

 It is by far the best grass for ewes and lambs, or indeed for any sheep. As a 

 hay crop it is invaluable : two heavy swaths in the summer, and a third crop 

 for autumn feed for sheep are usually secured in Suffolk. On the stiff lands 

 overlying the chalk on the Cambridgeshire side of the county immense crops 

 of hay are grown. Lucerne may be cultivated to great advantage as a hay 

 crop, and as such perhaps yields a heavier return than any other grass. But it 

 is not a good sheep grass ; the stalks soon get hard, and it is not every sowing 

 which yields a standing plant. It goes off in the spring on lands which do 

 not suit it. The writer has had it stand as a profitable crop seven years. 



Rye-grass is much used as a mixture with other grass seeds. It comes 

 on, bite after bite, like a permanent grass. Hoed in with the wheat plant in 

 spring, it appears the next year before any other green food. It is splendid 

 food for ewes and lambs if fed early, but the stems get hard if left too long. 

 Trefoil is mostly used as a mixed seeding, but as it does not yield a second 

 crop it is best supplemented by white clover or rye-grass. As a catch crop 

 for seed on land too heavy for roots it is frequently cultivated with profit ; 

 when cleared the land is laid up for barley. 



Trifolium is the earliest grass to come to hand for hay. It is mostly 

 hoed in on the wheat growth, and either for hay or first green crop for fodder 

 the land is cleared in time for a turnip crop. It is a precarious swath for 

 hay, for the woolly nature of the stem holds the rain and dew also, and once 

 wetted it is not readily dried again. Drilled on the unploughed wheat stubble 

 immediately after harvest it comes well in the spring. 



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