CATCH CROPS. 61 
as may be thought desirable; or a pulse crop, which latter 
would occupy the land the whole summer. 
If it is desirable to farm for hay or feed, and in the spring 
it is found there are not sufficient autumn seeds alive, or that 
it is not desirable or convenient to plough up the ley, and the 
opportunity of sowing trifolium, red suckling, Italian ryegrass, 
or other late autumn seeds has been missed, the only choice 
apparently left is to drill in tares, although this course is seldom 
successful, as they are difficult to establish, and very attractive 
to rats, mice, and birds. 
It is always advisable to consider catch crops in the autumn. 
Italian ryegrass will bear very late sowing, especially during 
an open season, and it is safe to sow it quite into October ; 
the land need not be ploughed, but it is desirable to bury this 
seed as much as possible. Italian ryegrass is so prolific that a 
slovenly farmer who has a stubble he can do nothing with, in 
consequence of twitch and other weeds, sometimes sows 
Italian ryegrass, with or without a mixture of trifolium, and 
harrows all he can with a view of smothering the weeds, in 
which he is often successful. 
Trifolium is good as a catch crop, but it must not be sown 
so late as Italian ryegrass ; it is not advisable to sow it after 
September, and it does not require burying. We have known 
great success follow from simply throwing trifolium seed on a 
foul stubble, and leaving it to its own resources. It is also 
used for mending weak layers, as is red suckling, white clover, 
alsike, and trifolium, mixed with Italian ryegrass, all of which 
will form.a good catch hay crop, but the mixture must be sown 
soon after harvest is over, every day’s delay lessening the 
chance of success. 
After harvest it is a common custom in East Anglia for 
flockmasters to plough up a clean grain stubble and drill in 
three bushels of rye per acre to form a catch crop, in most 
cases using ten loads of farmyard manure per acre (a desirable 
