104 



PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



mixed crops for use when pastures are dry in summer, and 

 also for winter forage. 



There are two summer, or hot weather, legumes which 

 should always find a place in the rotations on a dairy farm. 

 Cow peas (Fig. 53) and soy beans have both been tried so 

 often that their use is no longer an experiment. 



FIG. 52. Alsike-clover roots (on left) and garden-pea roots (on right). Useful 

 bacteria live in these nodules and enable the plants to use nitrogen from the air which 

 they otherwise could not do. 



They have many advantages: Quick, dense growth if 

 sown in warm weather; a big supply of green forage to feed 

 when pastures are dry; very good for hay if cut and cured 

 in dry weather; ten to twelve per cent of protein in the cured 

 crop; a very high content of protein in the ripened seed, 

 especially of soy beans; a big supply of nitrogen and green 

 manure for the improvement of the soil if the crop is turned 

 under, or even if the stubble and roots only are worked in; 

 and the deep roots are a great physical help in most soils. 



