THE DAILY LIFE OF OUE FARM. 121 



benefit of the after-crops. This may be clearly seen, if 

 you consider the difference between cutting clover and 

 feeding it off. It is generally believed that a man who 

 feeds his clover off, with a little oilcake, &c., will get a 

 better crop than one who takes the hay. I know I am 

 here treading on tender ground ; but, at the risk of 

 being accused of heresy, I will aver that the man who 

 spends his money on oilcake, feeding it off upon clover, 

 is committing an error, unless he can realise benefit in 

 the shape of mutton. If you cut clover at Midsummer, 

 and let it grow again, and then take another cutting in 

 the autumn, you will afterwards obtain a far better 

 crop of wheat than you would secure by feeding with 

 oilcake, unless you choose to go to an enormous expense. 

 Every leaflet upwards has a rootlet dow^nwards, and if 

 the leaflet be taken off the rootlet will not grow ; so 

 that if the sheep be fed upon the surface, the under- 

 production is diminished. In exact proportion to the 

 increase of the upper, is the increase of the lower ; and 

 if you are always feeding-off the former with sheep, you 

 will have but few rootlets below, and the small amount 

 of nutriment you give in the shape of oilcake will pro- 

 duce little or no effect." He proceeds to relate the 

 issue of an experiment that was tried for him by a 

 friend in Northamptonshire. "A field of clover was 

 divided into two parts. The whole was cut at Mid- 

 summer ; half was left to grow again, and the other fed 

 off. In October two pieces were staked out as regu- 

 larly as possible, all the roots dug up, carefully cleaned 

 and weighed. The result was, that where the clover 

 had been cut once and eaten once there were 25 cwt. of 

 roots per acre ; and where it had been cut twice there 

 were 75 cwt. per acre, being a difference of two tons of 



