On Early Sprincj Feed. 



217 



to the objection of interfering with good husbandry, particularly 

 the hoeing of the corn crop, with which it is sown a whole year 

 before, as well as preventing the ploughing of the land for the 

 same period ; thus encouraging the growth of quitch and weeds, 

 while the adhesion of the soil which it produces, and the accu- 

 inulation of roots, &c. very materially prevent its kindly working 

 for the crop intended to follow. 



The above remarks are made on the supposition that the rye- 

 grass is introduced as a half- crop, for it must be quite clear to 

 every practical farmer that there is no sound practice in throw- 

 ing away a whole year's crop for the sake of one month's feed 

 in the spring, valuable as it undoubtedly is. The trials above 

 mentioned which the writer has seen have been with Pacey's rye- 

 grass, and though the Italian rye-grass would furnish a greater 

 portion of food, supposing it tillered as much as Pacey's, which is 

 not the case, yet it is liable to all the above objections, and from 

 the observation of the writer it appears exceedingly doubtful 

 whether it will bear an equal degree of frost to Pacey's. 



It is the intention of the writer now to state his experience, 

 and offer his recommendation of a crop embracing all the advan- 

 tages of the preceding, and several peculiar to itself. It is that 

 of rye. eaten in the early stages of its growth. It is intended to 

 intervene betv.'een the last crop of the four-course system, which 

 is generally wheat, and to be eaten, and the land ploughed and 

 worked for a crop of turnips. It is equally applicable to all 

 kinds of rotations, and Vv ould well precede a fallow or a crop of 

 rape. As it is generally upon farms where the four-course 

 svstem is pursued that snrinsf-feed is most v. anted, the writer will 

 confine his observations to that rotation. 



So soon as the wheat is cut in the autumn, the plough should 

 be set to work. This may be done even before it is carted, during 

 the mornings of harvest. A single ploughing is given, and a very 

 slight dressing of any kind of short manure. In some cases 

 where the farmer lays on his manure in the autumn, for turnips 

 the ensuing year, it might be better to lay it on before the plough- 

 ing, it should be remembered that the slight dressing should 

 not all be considered as given to the rye ; in reality it becomes 

 incorporated with the soil, and more intimately mixed with it 

 than by the ordinary mode of spreading it on in the autumn, and 

 any part of it which the rye may abstract, will be more than 

 compensated by the droppings of the stock, and the carbonic acid 

 gas which they evolve while consuming it ; and which the soil 

 more readily absorbs in the spring than in any other part of the 

 year, evaporation going on at that period to a much smaller extent 

 than in any other. 



The seed must be sown upon the plough-seam broadcast, at the 



