WEEDS 359 



The high condition of the arable land on this farm 

 could be seen in the heavy crops of mangold and 

 cabbage ; the swedes having been sown later had 

 suffered from the cold and rainy weather, and were on 

 the small side, with the blue leaves that tell of arrested 

 development. The season had suited the cabbage, 

 which were immense, and we have often wondered why 

 stock farmers do not grow this magnificent fodder 

 crop more freely. Of course, in severe climates it will 

 not keep like swedes (though with care the solid 

 varieties may be stored), and the transplanting requires 

 a little extra labour, but the return is great on many 

 soils that are not first-rate for swedes. The root land 

 showed how difficult weeds had been to deal with 

 during 1912; the preceding hot summer had ripened 

 an extra crop of seed, and when they germinated 

 hoeing did little more than check and transplant the 

 weeds. Spurrey was a good deal in evidence here 

 and in other places in Devonshire, showing that with 

 the lack of lime and the moist climate the soils had 

 passed the safe limit and were becoming acid. Yet 

 liming, formerly one of the most regular operations in 

 Devonshire farming, had not been forgotten on this farm, 

 though as elsewhere the practice had become greatly 

 neglected. Men will fix their attention on the harm 

 that may be done by liming ; as in Cornwall a tradi- 

 tion prevailed that lime is bad for the oat crop even 

 after several years, and our host could recall several 

 instances where liming a field already poor had still 

 further impoverished it. Of course, lime in itself is not 

 a plant food ; it is a means of maintaining a neutral 

 reaction in the soil, without which manure is not 

 effective nor plants healthy. The old rhyme, " Lime 

 and lime without manure will make both farm and 

 farmer poor," sums up exactly the practical aspect of 



