GREEN CROPS FOR SHEEP. 427 



because, being sown in the fall, it gets well-rooted, and 

 when pastured early in the spring, starts up again at once. 

 If the soil is in such heart as to grow a good crop of rye, 

 it will furnish a large amount of sheep pasturage six acres 

 may be fed over continually by 50 sheep during the whole 

 season. As soon as they have passed over the field between 

 hurdles, they may be brought back to the starting point, 

 and go over it again. It is evident that, if each of the 

 sheep are given four ounces of linseed-meal, and the same 

 amount of Indian corn, per day, during the season, although 

 light feed, this six acres will be qualified for raising a good 

 grain-crop the following season, and that the gain in the 

 sheep will pay for this extra food, with a good margin for 

 other expenses. Liebig has stated that rye, when cut often 

 during the first year, will mature a crop the following year, 

 and it is reasonable to suppose that, if properly pastured, it 

 will also continue through the following seasons, which 

 must render it a favorite crop for feeding off on the land, 

 as it must give pasture one- third longer than a spring crop. 



WINTER VETCH. 



The vetch has not been so thoroughly tried in the United 

 States as it deserves, as, where it succeeds, it has many 

 qualities to recommend it ; but having been raised in Can- 

 ada, north of Montreal, at latitude 46, over a belt of terri- 

 tory from Lake Erie of more than two hundred miles, it is 

 reasonable to infer that it is suitable for the territory of 

 this country from New York to Oregon that it has proba- 

 bly nearly as wide a range as clover ; in fact, Nuttall enu- 

 merates some five species of the vetch as natives of the 

 United States, some being identical with those found in 

 Europe as the Vicia sylvatica, growing on the borders of 

 woods, and banks of the Missouri river ; the Vicia crocea, 

 growing in a wild state in bushy meadows, and sometimes 

 troublesome in gardens in Pennsylvania and other Middle 



