158 THE OX AND THE DAIKY. 



Tares or vetches ( Yicia saliva ), of which there are several 

 varieties, constitute a very important green crop, thriving 

 best on heavy soils, and yielding a profitable return. One 

 sort is much more hardy than the other, and will stand the 

 severest winter ; this may be sown in the autumn for early 

 spring fodder, the more tender sort in March, and it will 

 come in three or four weeks after the former. A good farmer 

 will aim at a succession of green crops, and tares may be 

 sown from spring till August, for winter use. If the farmer 

 has more tares than he absolutely needs, he may make them 

 into excellent hay, should the weather permit ; or depasture 

 sheep upon them, cutting the fodder and securing it in proper 

 racks, that it may not be trodden under foot and wasted. A 

 succession of tares and brown clover may be kept up from 

 May to November. Tares require the land to be well 

 manured; but they become an excellent substitute for a 

 summer fallow on heavy soils, and thus amply repay the 

 outlay in labour and manure expended upon them. 



Such are the roots and artificial grasses on which cattle are 

 fed ; we here say nothing of the ordinary grasses of the 

 meadow, nor of common hay, straw, chaff, or grains, for with 

 these all are familiar. In supplying cattle with artificial fresh- 

 cut grasses, lucern, sainfoin, clover, &c., care must be taken, 

 and we repeat our injunction, that they be cut in as dry a state 

 as possible, and left for twenty-four hours to undergo partial 

 fermentation before being given to the cattle ; and even then 

 they should be allowed only in moderate quantities at a time, 

 otherwise the animals are apt to become hooven or hoven, 

 owing to the evolution of carburetted hydrogen in the paunch ; 

 indeed, we have known cows, which had been previously feed- 

 ing on a rather scanty grass pasturage, thus affected after being 

 turned upon a rich aftermath. Of all the artificial grasses, 

 none is more apt to render cattle hoven than lucern rashly 

 given ; they are apt to gorge themselves ; whereas, if a small 

 portion only be allowed from time to time, they masticate it 

 more thoroughly, rendering it much more readily digestible, 

 and consequently better adapted for yielding to the assimi- 

 lating organs the principles of nutrition. The cow will thus 

 retain her health, and yield more and richer milk. Many 

 practical farmers consider lucern, at all times, too stimulating 

 for milch cows ; they aver that, if largely used, it deteriorates 

 the milk, and is apt to produce eruptions about the thighs 

 and abdomen, from which exudes an acrid humour, producing 



