126 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



and chemical properties of the soil, and also on soil 

 temperature, a very important point indeed. 



3. Having the land carrying a crop in winter prevents 

 the nitrogen and other fertilising elements from being 

 washed out, as happens under the ordinary system. 

 The heavier the rainfall, the greater the loss in this 

 direction. 



4. The growing of such leguminous crops as vetches 

 and clover so often in the rotation stores up a large 

 amount of free nitrogen from the air. 



FEWER BOUGHT FOODS NECESSARY 



Again, the growing of such albuminous foods as 

 vetches and winter greens reduces the necessity for 

 buying so much albuminoids in the form of foreign 

 cakes and meals (cotton, soya, palm-nut cake, and 

 meal, etc.) for the compounding of balanced rations. 

 Such foreign foodstuffs are essential with the ordinary 

 farm crops, since balanced rations cannot otherwise be 

 compounded. 



To go back once more to the question of labour ; 

 equipped with the necessary implements and three 

 horses, two men, and a youth to help in the folding 

 and tending of the stock, can till 100 acres of a 

 mountain farm in accordance with the rotation men- 

 tioned on page 117, provided all the crops are con- 

 sumed where grown and only dry stock is kept. 



