72 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



broadcast ? The writer has conducted many experi- 

 ments to find out which is the better, and after about 

 ten years' experience, certainly thinks that broadcast- 

 ing is the better way. In the first place the labour is 

 less, and secondly, although a crop sown in rows may 

 seem to be heavier in yield than one broadcasted, this 

 is not really so. That can be proved if the drilled 

 and broadcasted crops are weighed and the difference 

 taken. 



Again, a broadcasted crop properly grown may seem 

 to be a little dirtier than a drilled crop in its earlier 

 stages ; but eventually the land is cleaner from broad- 

 casting than from drilling. The statement may sound 

 exaggerated, but, nevertheless, once a continuous- 

 cropping rotation has been properly estabhshed, 

 weeding may be dispensed with. 



WHEN IT PAYS TO DRILL 



In the case, however, of a farmer who has com- 

 menced the growth of winter greens, where there has 

 been an idle interim between the growth of winter 

 greens and the previous crop, it may be better for the 

 first year to grow the crop in rows. Under these 

 circumstances, the seed may be sown with an ordinary 

 corn drill, or turnip sower ; but a far better way is to 

 broadcast the crop, and, if the weeds seem to be 

 getting ahead of the crop, a cultivator can be run 

 through the young braird, thus leaving the crop in 

 rows. 



By this method of sowing, the farmer has two strings 

 to his bow. If the crop grows well at the beginning, 

 there will be no necessity for putting it into rows. 

 When grown in rows, these need only be about 

 16-20 inches apart. Growing in rows is also neces- 

 sary when the system of inter-cropping of continuous 



