THE COMMON CEREALS. 1 79 



and in moist climates only, can it be sown for such 

 a purpose, as for instance, in New England. 



Cultivation. — Ordinarily no cultivation is given 

 to these crops after they have been sown. But there 

 ■may be instances when the harro^\■ can be used on 

 them to advantage, more especially when peas and 

 oats have been sown together and buried with the 

 grain drill at an even depth. If harrowed with 

 more or less thoroughness just as the first young 

 plants begin to appear, the growth of weeds will be 

 checked and the moisture in the ground will be better 

 conserved. Before the weeds can make a good start 

 again the plants get so far ahead of them as to 

 materially hinder their growth. But if the ground 

 is unduly moist, the harrow cannot of course be used 

 thus. A light harrow should be used, generally, 

 having teeth slanted backward. 



There may also be instances when it would be 

 more profitable to plant the crop in rows sufficiently 

 distant to give them more or less horse cultivation. 

 Such a method of growing these plants would be 

 especially helpful where moisture is not present in 

 sufficient quantities to produce a maximum growth. 

 Crops thus cultivated would no doubt produce much 

 more abundantly in a dry region, but the system 

 belongs rather to the future than to the present. 

 The machinery for bestowing such cultivation has 

 not yet been perfected. 



Feeding. — With regard to the best method of 

 feeding these crops, much that has been said imder 

 the head of feeding in the chapter on corn will be 

 equally applicable to them. The cutting of rye as a 

 soiling food should begin as soon as the first growth 



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