114 OUR FARM CROPS. 



barley grown between turnips and clover wheat being 

 the fourth crop, and preceding the turnips. The turnips, 

 to which a considerable amount of manure has been given, 

 are fed off on the land ; and their manurial produce, fre- 

 quently enriched by the addition of oil-cake or corn, trans- 

 formed into the shape of solid and liquid excrements from 

 the sheep, is absorbed and mixed up with the surface soil. 

 On such soils, especially after the deep ploughing and 

 extra tillage of the turnip crop, a fine tilth, so necessary 

 for the seed-bed, is readily obtained, and the roots are 

 able to spread themselves quickly through the soil. The 

 clover crop, which follows the barley, has large fleshy roots; 

 these naturally thrive better in a loosened soil than if it 

 were compact and hard, through which fibrous roots 

 those of wheat, for instance could far more easily pene- 

 trate. As the clover roots are developed, the soil gra- 

 dually becomes firmer and more consolidated ; and by the 

 time the crop is finally consumed the pressure on the sur- 

 face has neutralized the loosening property of the barley, 

 and given the land that compactness which is so desirable 

 for the succeeding crop wheat. The wheat stubble is 

 ploughed up deep, and left for the weathering influence 

 of the winter months, the manure being either ploughed 

 in with it, or left for the spring ploughing; and the land 

 is then well prepared and in condition for the turnip crop. 



If we were to reverse the position of the two grain crops, 

 neither of them would meet with such suitable conditions. 

 The soil would be too loosened by the preceding crops 

 of barley and turnips to suit the requirements of the 

 wheat, while the clover would leave it too firm and com- 

 pact in texture to be adapted for the growth of barley. 



Neither would the chemical conditions of the soil be 

 more suitable than the mechanical. The food would be 

 supplied in the surface soil to the wheat, which has root- 

 power sufficient to seek for it low down in the subsoil; 



