FEEDING CROPS FOR SHEEP. 149 



ends of the stakes are driven into the ground by a mallet, 

 the ends of the hurdles being tied together by wires twisted 

 around the stakes. It is a small work to move a lot of these 

 hurdles, as the ground is eaten off, by a wagon, and setting 

 them up the desired space ahead. Such a crop as rye, for 

 instance, is doubled in useful value by the use of this kind 

 of fence. It has been stated by that renowned scientist, 

 Liebig, that rye so fed one year will become a biennial as 

 mentioned above and produce a crop of grain the next sea- 

 son, all the more productive by the well known manurial 

 ajid fertilizing effects of pasturing land by sheep. Indeed, 

 the use of a flock for the improvement of land by this 

 pasturing is one of the most effective methods of scientific 

 culture. 



The vetch or tares is a valuable pasturing crop. It is a 

 hardy plant, thriving as far North as Eastern Canada, and 

 having as wide a range as clover. 



There are two varieties of this plant, one is the Win- 

 ter vetch, the other the Spring vetch. This is a plant of the 

 pea family, and is quite as hardy as the pea. We have a 

 large variety of this plant growing wild and in the South- 

 ern mountain regions, where it is frequently found in the 

 open woods growing three feet high, and completely cover- 

 ing the ground. It has been grown as far North as the 

 neighborhood of Montreal, and as far West as that fertile 

 tract of territory between Lake Erie and Huron. It ranks 

 as a fodder plant equally with red clover, but yields quite 

 twice as much feeding as this plant. It thrives best on a 

 clay soil, and the soil needs to be thoroughly well worked, 

 the surface for four or five inches deep being made as fine 

 as possible to ensure the best growth. Doubtless the 

 Spring variety will be the better kind for the Northern part 

 of this continent, but it may be sown with safety South of 

 Virginia. It may be sown with Winter or Spring rye by 

 which the vines are upheld, and thus make a more econom- 

 ical feeding crop than when sown alone, with less waste 

 by trampling of it by the sheep. But where the lambs are 

 folded on it within hurdles, there is little waste in this way. 

 This crop is exceedingly valuable on farms having a some- 

 what worn soil, the nitrogenous character of the plant tend- 

 ing to enrich it as riinch as a large quantity of manure would 



