32 INTERMEDIATE CROPS 
leguminous crops ought to be ploughed in ; but for one 
year, at any rate, or possibly for two, the rancher who 
is straitened for capital may mow the crop and sell the 
hay, though he must understand that by so doing he 
is robbing his young trees. Hay always fetches good 
prices, generally in the neighbourhood of $15 to $20 per 
ton. Clover and alfalfa are best sown on the top of the 
snow just before it finally disappears in the latter part 
of March or the beginning of April. Twenty pounds to 
the acre is the quantity usually sown ; of hairy vetches, 
50 pounds to the acre. 
On no account should cereals, such as wheat, oats, or 
barley, be grown amongst fruit-trees. They rob the trees 
of moisture, and the trees want always all the moisture 
they can get. But there is no objection even to cereals if 
they are turned in green, or cut green and used as fodder. 
The value of clover as an orchard crop will be still 
further discussed at a later stage. (See section on Cover 
Crops, Chapter VIII.) 
VEGETABLES.—Unless the ranch is situated close to a 
market—that is, a town, logging camp, saw-mill, or mine 
—it is not profitable to grow vegetables, except in large 
quantities for “shipment” away in carload lots. And 
even close to the towns the rancher has very formidable 
competitors in the Chinese “ truck,” or market-gardeners, 
who are adepts at growing such produce as celery, onions, 
lettuce, marrows, cucumbers, cabbage, peas, rhubarb, 
and various kinds of salads. They even pay rents as 
high as $50 up to $125 per acre for ground for market- 
garden purposes. With them labour is cheap, and they 
make high prices of their produce. 
