188 FARM MANAGEMENT 



ing milk, or work, digest their food closely. From the 

 limited information available, it appears as if one might 

 count on a return of about one-half of the organic matter 

 of the food, but with usual methods of handling probably 

 not over one-fourth to one-third reaches the field. 



123. Pasturing off crops. The practice of pasturing 

 down crops is on the increase. This is a method of saving 

 labor as well as enriching land. It is particularly useful 

 with hogs and sheep. This method has long been used 

 in England. It seems destined to increase in this country. 

 Cow peas, soy beans, rape, or other crops, may be sown 

 in corn to be pastured off by sheep. 1 Hogging off corn is 

 becoming increasingly popular. The hogs save the work 

 of harvesting corn and hauling- manure. 2 Rye, wheat, 

 peanuts, and other crops, are similarly harvested by hogs. 

 Very little grain is wasted. The straw or stalks arc left 

 on the land. With this system, the water supply should 

 be moved from time to time, so as to secure a better 

 distribution of manure. In addition to its advantages 

 from the standpoint of labor, this method is one of the 

 best for keeping up fertility. Over half of the manure is 

 usually lost when stock is fed in yards. 



124. Green manure. Sometimes crops are grown for 

 the purpose of plowing under for green manure. We are 

 usually deceived as to the amount of material that this 

 adds to the soil. It takes a good soil to grow two tons of 

 dry matter per acre. More frequently, one-half a ton is 

 secured. Three tons of farm manure usually give over 

 a ton of dry matter 3 and, after being properly spread, are 

 probably worth more than a ton of dry matter in green 



1 Sheep Feeding and Farm Management, D. Howard Doane. 



2 Minnesota, Bulletin 104. 



3 Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. I, p. 498. 



