1920.] 



Land Broken up during the War. 



1127 



adequate ipformation upon any changes in the number 

 of women so engaged, be urged upon the appropriate 

 authorit}^ 



A detailed statement of the Committee's conclusions and 

 recommendations, taking each type of industry separately, is 

 given in tabulated form. 



The question of the future cropping of the land recently 

 broken out of grass is seriously exercising the minds of many 

 farmers. There are at least four different 

 Farming of Land 5 which such land can be treated. 

 Broken up during . 



the War. viz. : — 



I. The land may be worked in with 

 the rotational system hitherto in force. 



2. A proportion of the root shift may be devoted to silage 



crops. 



3. Temporary leys of several years' duration may be 



introduced into the rotation. 



4. The land may be sown down to permanent grass. 



I — With the introduction of the Norfolk or 4-course rotation, 

 in which roots occupied 25 per cent, of the arable land, it was 

 possible to keep the land clean, and, by feeding cattle and 

 sheep, to maintain a reasonable level of fertility without 

 recourse to artificial manures. As such manures, however, 

 came more and more into use, a smaller area of roots sufficed 

 to maintain the land in good condition, and roots came to 

 occupy 20 per cent, or less of the arable land. (In the case 

 of heavy land the proportion may be as low as 5 per cent.) 

 Even before the War, roots were commonly regarded as an 

 expensive crop. Under present conditions they are still more 

 so. It seems clear, therefore, that the extra arable area arising 

 out of war conditions will not generally be maintained on a 

 short rotational system, in which roots requiring singUng, 

 lifting and storing would take the same prominent place as of 

 old. If the rotation hitherto practised is adopted, crops such 

 as rape and kale will probably, in part, replace the ordinary 

 root crops. 



2. — In recent years farmers have begun to look to ensilage 

 as a means of reducing the root shift, particularly under 

 conditions where roots are a specially risky crop. An autumn- 

 sown silage crop is largely independent of weather, does not 

 need a fine tilth, keeps down weeds, and is ready for removal 

 in July, thus affording opportunities for a half fallow, or, if 

 required, a second green crop. 



