1920.] The Use of Soiling Crops in General Farming. 729 



instead of a cart or wagon, for carrying the produce. It has 

 been suggested to the writer that the operation of unloading in 

 the field might be avoided if feeding racks carried on large 

 wheels were constructed so that they could be filled with the 

 green fodder and drawn to the grass field, and when emptied 

 returned to the fodder crop to be refilled, the rack taking the 

 place of the ordinary cart or wagon. The practice of 

 tethering, so common on the Continent, does not seem suitable 

 in this country, and the " poaching " of land in wet weather 

 would undo much of the good brought about by the pulverising 

 elfect of the roots of the leguminous crops. 



In conclusion, the writer would earnestly urge agriculturists 

 to consider the suggestions here outlined. Peas, beans, and 

 vetches are neglected crops to-day, although they figured promi- 

 nently in British agriculture before the era of the turnip. They 

 enrich the soil, and perform the work of the harrow and the 

 cultivator. When mixed with cereals, they make a growth so 

 dense as to destroy practically all weeds, and so make hoeing 

 unnecessary. 



We may perhaps hope that, just as in the eighteenth century 

 the cultivation of the turnip increased the productiveness of the 

 agriculture of this country, so may the general adoption of soiling 

 crops on our farms mark the commencement of a new period of 

 prosperity in the era which lies before us. 



