20 FORAGE CROPS 



also bind the soil and prevent the washing and 

 blowing away of the finer particles in winter and 

 spring, thus keeping the land in better condition 

 for the oats crop, besides accumulating organic 

 matter. 



If either clover or the Essex rape is seeded 

 with the oats, the land does not lie bare and ex- 

 posed to the direct rays of the sun through the hot 

 season, but is shaded with plants, which keep it 

 cooler, and which are useful for pasture until it is 

 time to prepare for wheat. The wheat crop is 

 usually harvested early in July; if immediately 

 afterward the land is thoroughly disked, and seeded 

 with cowpeas, the land will again be covered dur- 

 ing the hot months of July and August, and this 

 will prevent, in large part, the possible destruction 

 of bacteria, and at the same time make a crop of 

 hay, which, under ordinary conditions of fertility, 

 should yield from one to two tons per acre, and be 

 harvested in time for seeding to timothy and clover. 

 This better preparatory treatment of the land will 

 encourage a better germination and more rapid 

 growth of the crop in the fall. The crop will reach 

 maturity at the usual time for hay- making, and 

 since the object sought is the hay crop, and the 

 land is entirely given up to this object, it is likely 

 to make a better catch and be freer from weeds 

 than if seeded with a grain crop. This method has 

 proved to be entirely feasible in practice. With 



