IIOO 



Pea and Oat Hay. 



[FEB., 



PEA AND OAT HAY. . 



Jas. C. Brown, 



Vice-Principal and Lecturer in Agriculture, Harper Adams 

 Agricultural College, Newport, Salop. 



Need for the Crop, If the return to grass of the newly- 

 ploughed land is to be avoided, new methods of cropping must 

 be introduced, as the addition made to the arable land during 

 the War cannot be absorbed into the estabhshed farming 

 system. The pre-war balance between winter and summer 

 keep has been upset, and the area under root crops will be much 

 too great if the new arable land is added to the existing system. 

 This land has, in most cases, borne two crops of cereals, and it 

 is undesirable that it should be cropped continuously with 

 straw crops until its stored fertihty is exhausted. At this 

 period a mixture of peas and oats grown for hay should prove 

 a valuable addition to the crops available to the farmer. If 

 this mixture be grow^n on some of the newly- ploughed land 

 which has carried two grain crops, the stock-carrying capacity 

 of the farm can be maintained, and it is suggested that part of 

 the grass land, usually mown, should be pastured, the loss of 

 the hay crop being repaired by growing the hay required on the 

 arable land. Further, in cases where the seeds plant failed 

 last year the land might very profitably be sown, in spring, 

 with the pea and oat mixture. 



Soil euitabie, — This crop can be grown on the poorest land, 

 but the best yields are obtained on fairly strong land, low-lying 

 moist soils giving better crops than the drier soils. 



Sowing,— Early sowing is desirable, on dry soils. February 

 is not too early, on average soils. March is the best month, 

 and under any conditions the seed should be in the ground by 

 the middle of April. On light soils the seed mixture should be 

 sown broadcast and ploughed in about 3 in. deep ; on heavier 

 soils it should be broadcasted over the ploughing, and harrowed 

 in with the spring-tined harrow, the land being rolled after- 

 wards with a heavy roller. Broadcasting is preferable to 

 drilling as it is equally effective and much less costly. The 

 seed should be mixed at the rate of 2 bush, of oats to i bush, 

 of peas, and the mixture should be sown at the rate of 3 to 

 4 bush, per acre. 



Varieties suitable.— The large-seeded oats are quite unsuitable 

 for this purpose, as the total weight of crop is much smaller 

 than that of the straw-producing types, although their grain 

 yield is heavier. Clemrotheray is the best variety of oats 

 available for making into hay ; it is very hardy, produces fine 



