70 The Essentials of Poultry Raising 



Oats may be used for either summer or winter grazing. Rape 

 can be raised spring, summer, and fall if there is suiificient 

 rainfall. Soybeans and cowpeas can be raised spring, summer, 

 and fall as a yard rotation crop, if there is sufficient rainfall. 

 Turnips and mangels make the best root crops for winter feed- 

 ing. Collards and cabbage, as well as lettuce raised in cold 

 frames, also make excellent succulent feed. In raising mangels 

 it is best to plough the ground deeply in the fall. The freezing 

 will pulverize the ground and tend to make it in better condition 

 for the crop. Good black loam soil is the best. The ground 

 should be manured. If manure is not available, fertilize by dis- 

 tributing four to five hundred pounds of fertilizer to the acre. 

 Plant the mangel seed in rows two and a half to three feet apart, 

 sow thick, later thin out, leaving one strong beet stock to each 

 ten inches. The rows should be ridged, the top of the ridge being 

 about two inches above the surface of the ground. The seed 

 should be planted about one inch deep. Gather the root crops 

 as late in the fall as possible. Bury in the ground until ready 

 to use them. To do this, place about six inches of straw on 

 the ground, then pile or windrow, cover mangels or turnips 

 with about six inches of straw or hay and cover with dirt. In 

 securing the dirt, take that close arotmd the piles of roots so 

 that there will be drainage away from the pile, which will thus 

 keep dry. The roots thus prepared should keep till January 

 and February, when they are most needed. During the fall and 

 early winter grazing crops may be used. 



