726 The Use of Soiling Crops in General Farming. [Nov., 



There are many scientific reasons whicii can be given in 

 favour of the four-course rotation .but other methods of preparing 

 land to receive a particular crop are known which are found to 

 give quite satisfactory results. Cereals following grass are pro- 

 verbially good, especially when the grass has been dow^n for 

 several years. Cereals also give good yields after fallow crops. 



In this connection the results obtained on the Harper Adams 

 Agricultural College Soiling Farm offer food for thought. 

 Methods of cultivation have been tested which may have wide- 

 spread application to English farming, especially in relation to 

 economical production. One method has been established of pre- 

 paring land for cereals by preceding the cereals with a soiling 

 crop known as the Harper Adams Soiling Crop No. YI. This 

 crop is a mixture of : — 



Beans ... ... ... ... 1 bushel 



Maple field peas ... ... ... | 



Vetches ^ 



Clemrotheray or Duns oats... ... 2 



This mixture cleans the land almost entirely of weeds, and pul- 

 verises the soil to a fineness which cannot be equalled by any 

 form of mechanical cultivation. The ground is also fertilised as 

 effectively as when farmyard or artificial manures are ordinarily 

 employed. The effect of this crop on the succeeding one was 

 clearly noticeable in the trials when the results were compared 

 with those obtained from crops dressed with farmyard manure 

 and preceded by rye without the leguminous plant. 



The mixture gives the heaviest yields when sown in March or 

 early April, but, in Shropshire, it has been found to give very 

 heavy yields when sown as late as the 5th May ; 20 tons per 

 acre of green fodder can be obtained from this mixture on good 

 land. 



The possibihty of growing this mixture as a grain crop suggests 

 itself, but it is doubtful whether, in this case, the fertihsing effect 

 on the land w^ould be equally good. There is little doubt that 

 when a crop is allowed to ripen its seed, the land is left more 

 impoverished than when the same crop is cut green. Fresh 

 swede or mangold tops, w^hen ploughed in, greatly enrich the 

 soil for the succeeding corn crop, but little result is noticed if 

 this green manure is allowed to decay on the surface. In the 

 same w^ay the unexhausted roots of the beans, peas and vetches, 

 when the mixture is cut green, may have a greater manurial 

 value ttian when the same plants are harvested ripe. The results 

 obtained at the Harper Adams College suggest that, on heavy 



