174 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



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grown in a sense as catch crops ; that is to say, after 

 early pasture crops, as winter rye. Or they may be 

 sown early and be followed by some other crops ; as 

 for instance, rape, winter wheat or winter rye, and 

 in certain areas by winter vetches or crimson clover. 

 AVhen these crops precede a winter crop, there is 

 usually ample time to prepare the land well before 

 the winter crop is sown. They may also be followed 

 by the bare fallow. And in some instances they 

 may be sown late in the season to pro\'ide green food 

 late in the fall. These crops are essentially clean- 

 ing crops, and they thus help to clean the land with- 

 out special effort on the part of the grower to reach 

 such a result. 



Preparing the Soil. — The preparation of the 

 land for these- crops is simple, as it is for all crops 

 that fit in almost anywhere in the rotation. Usually 

 the deeper, the finer, the more moist, the richer and 

 cleaner the seed bed, the more satisfactory will be 

 the results when the crop has been sown. And as 

 a rule these conditions can be more perfectly secured 

 when considerable time elapses between the plowing 

 of the land and the sowing of the seed. But there 

 are soils in which deep plowing but a short time 

 before sowing the seed would be harmful rather than 

 helpful to the crop. Such are light sands and 

 heavy clays. When these crops are to be sown after 

 another crop previously harvested the same season, 

 moisture in the soil will be conserved to a much 

 greater extent by using the roller and harrow freely 

 as soon as possible after the land has been plowed. 



On lands of average fertility these grain crops 

 may of course be grown quite sucessfully without 

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