122 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



times seeds hay, all harvesting is dispensed with, or 

 rather the stock does the harvesting, converting the 

 crops into milk, mutton, beef, and pork. 



Another point is that the tillage is spread out over 

 seven of the best months of the year — in late spring, 

 summer, and autumn, when the rain is the greatest 

 help instead of the greatest hindrance to tillage opera- 

 tions. The plenteousness of the rain in hill districts has 

 already been referred to, and it is in such districts that 

 the intensive growing of forage crops can be developed 

 to the maximum, and where tillage operations in 

 virtue of the summer rainfall are reduced to the 

 minimum. 



In addition to all these labour economies, the actual 

 labour involved in the tiUing of mountain land, in 

 accordance with the rotation given, is so little as to be 

 almost incredible. By taking advantage of the rainfall, 

 the vigorous root action of the crops grown, each help- 

 ing to break up the land for the succeeding crop, the 

 natural inclination or ** fall " of the mountain land and 

 modem implements, we need only plough once in the 

 entire rotation. The ploughing is done in breaking up 

 the grass root for winter pasture. After that, the rest 

 of the tillage can be done with a disc-harrow, a culti- 

 vator, the spring-toothed harrow, and sometimes a 

 light finishing or chain-harrow. 



A ONE-WAY PLOUGH 



As regards ploughing to begin with. This, on a steep 

 hillside, should be done with a one-way plough ; not 

 the ordinary type of one-way plough which has one 

 plough-body in the soil and the other standing on its 

 head in the air, because the great weight of this type of 

 plough, its cumbersomeness and general top-heaviness 

 prevent its being used under these conditions. 



