SHEEP AS IMPROVERS OF CROP YIELDS 25 



Nearly all the small cereals may be profited by such 

 grazing under certain conditions. The winter crops, as 

 winter rye, winter wheat and in the South winter oats, 

 will furnish such grazing for a longer period, of course, 

 than any of the cereals that are spring sown. Peas do not 

 stand such grazing as well as other cereals, and the same 

 is probably true of legumes generally. The production 

 of corn and the sorghums is probably lowered in all in- 

 stances by such grazing where a mature crop is sought. 

 If corn is eaten down after it has produced the first joint, 

 it will not grow again. 



It would seem correct to say, on first thought, that 

 the yields obtained from the small cereals will not be in- 

 creased by such grazing, except in instances in which the 

 crop ungrazed would produce relatively too large a pro- 

 portion of straw. But this view must not be pressed too 

 far, for there are instances in which the simple impaction 

 of the soil by the treading of the sheep would seem to 

 have improved the yields even where straw is not pro- 

 duced in excess. Such are certain soils of the prairie, so 

 light in texture as to sink easily beneath the tread. The 

 impaction thus produced tends to lessen the escape of 

 moisture by surface evaporation and its benefits are 

 greatest in a dry season. Furthermore, when the small 

 cereals are grazed, they stool more than when not grazed, 

 and this means a relative increase in nearly all instances 

 in the number of heads produced. 



When winter rye, wheat or oats are growing so rankly 

 as a result of rich land and early sowing that, unchecked, 

 they will head out too early, then it would be in order to 

 graze them down for a time. But judgment must be 

 used as to the closeness of the grazing, as undue exposure 

 of the roots to the influences of severe winter weather 

 may prove harmful to the crop. Localities in which the 

 winter weather is usually not extreme are best adapted to 

 such grazing. When spring-sown cereals grow so rankly 

 in the early stages of growth that the danger is imminent 



