344 THE PLANT LIFE OF MARYLAND 



tion of animals to the area to be cleared; there should he enough 

 animals to feed upon the shoots as fast as they develop and by suc- 

 cessively eating off the shoots as they are renewed, the plants are soon 

 killed through the constant loss of all leaf surface, without which in 

 some form no plant can long remain alive. The roots of these dead 

 shrubs soon decay, and the field is thereby the more easily cared for. 

 The long hair (mohair) of these goats is a valuable addition to the 

 revenue of the farm, and comes in as almost clear profit so far as 

 cost of food is concerned. 



One feature concerned in the clearing of the slopes, and planting 

 to orchards, lies in the resulting washing of the soils. Under the 

 modern method of cultivation of commercial orchards, the soil is 

 hare during the season of the early summer when the rains are often 

 heavy and driving. Under clean tillage the soil is easily washed 

 away in such a rain-fall and gullying results. The time since the 

 orchards were set out is too short to be able to make any statement 

 as to injury actually done, but this is certainly a source of loss to 

 the orchardist, through the removal of the better portions of the 

 soil near the top, as well as to his valley fields upon which the debris 

 and waste of the steeper fields are washed. Some keep a strip of 

 some kind of green plant, cow-peas, rye, or other quick growing crop, 

 in the space midway between the rows of trees through the season 

 when the cultivation is going on, this being turned under and the 

 whole planted to a quick growing crop about mid-season. The ex- 

 posure of the whole surface is thus materially reduced, and the con- 

 ditions of washing and gullying thereby lessened. 



Forage Crops. 



One of the important sources of forage is found in the leaves and 

 stalks of corn. 



The dry stover is prepared in two ways ; either by "pulling blades" 

 and "topping," which is most common in the Coastal Zone, or by 

 "cutting corn," as is commonly practised in the other Zones of the 

 State. 



The method of saving fodder by the former system is thus de- 

 scribed by one who is located upon a large farm in Worcester County ; 

 the details may be slightly different elsewhere. The description is 



