276 THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



maize. While the latter crop is no more productive than 

 mangolds and sugar-beets when these are at their best, 

 the corn crop costs much less in labor. 



Crops of such large productive capacity are espe- 

 cially adapted to dairymen located on limited areas of 

 high-priced land. They occupy a place in intensive cul- 

 ture which will become more and more important as 

 grazing and long rotations are replaced by soiling and 

 stable feeding during the entire year. 



370. Home supply of protein. — ^The protein supply 

 of the farm may be augmented by the growth of legu- 

 minous crops, such as peas, beans, alfalfa, and the clovers. 

 In so far as climate and soil permit the economical pro- 

 duction of this class of fodders, there will be a corres- 

 pondingly less necessity for the purchase of nitrogenous 

 feeding-stuffs. 



371. Legumes and fertility. — ^The leguminous crops 

 are regarded as sustaining an important relation to 

 fertility in acting as nitrogen-gatherers, and for this 

 reason they are believed to be a valuable adjimct of any 

 system of farming. Just what proportion of the nitro- 

 gen in a crop of clover, for instance, comes from outside 

 the SOU is not known, however, either for particular con- 

 ditions or as to the average. 



SOILING-CKOPS 



372. Soiling-crops a necessity. — ^The production of 

 green crops as an amendment to the pasture, or as a 

 substitute for it, is a practice essential to the highest suc- 

 cess in dairying on many farms, and is to some extent 

 desirable in other branches of stock husbandry. 



There are few pastures, perhaps none, that afford 



