206 FORAGE CROPS. 



high the plants are more liable to be injured by dry 

 weather. The raised drills can best be made with 

 a double mold-board plow and marker attached. 

 They may also be made with a single mold- 

 board plow, but they can only be made thus 

 at a serious loss of time as compared with the 

 other system of making them. The distance 

 between the rows varies, say, from twenty-four 

 inches to thirty-six inches, but the average distance 

 is about twenty-six inches. 



The seed may be sown with a hand drill such 

 as is used in a garden, when only a small quantity 

 is to be sown, but when a large area is to be sown 

 a drill made for the purpose of sowing field seeds is 

 commonly used. It is drawn with one horse, sows 

 two rows of seed at a time, and a roller attached 

 firms the earth over the seed. But when the 

 weather is dry and the soil is not liable to blow, it 

 will be advantageous to use the heavy field roller 

 after the seed has been sown. 



From two to four pounds of seed are sown per 

 acre, according to the more or less favorable condi- 

 tions of soil and weather. The time for sowing 

 will, of course, vary much with the locality. The 

 further north, as a rule, the later should the sowing 

 be, but the last half of May and the first half of June 

 will pretty well cover the best season for sowing 

 rutabagas. 



When the seed is broadcasted, it is sown about 

 the season already mentioned, but on new lands the 

 crop will sometimes be abundant when sown later. 

 It may be sown by hand or by the aid of a hand 

 broadcasting machine, and at the rate of, say, tliree 

 to four pounds of the seed per acre. 



