2()0 On (he Modifications of the Four-Course Rotaiion, ^-c. 
From the above considerations I am inclined to think tliat 
considerable benefit would result from allowins^ clover or seeds 
to stand till tliey have made considerable growth, and then 
foldinc; them off like rape or any similar green crop. I am 
aware that in a backward spring this wf)uld be apt to try the^ 
patience of the flockmaster ; but, especially on light soils, where 
shading the land in summer is an advantage, I should expect an 
increase both of feed and of vegetable matter left in the soil as 
the result.* 
The trifolium incarnatum may sometimes be advantageously 
substituted for clover. I have found it very useful, when clover 
has missed plant, sowing it on stubble after harvest, and har- 
rowing' and rolling it in. It vields a large crop of rather 
coarse haj. 
* I entirely concur with the autlior in the opinion here expressed. The use of 
hurdles and a fokl has enabled me much to increase my stock, and yet to dispense 
with hiring feed ; whilst in the late hot summers niy sheep have had an abundance 
of keep, when some of my neighbours' fields were nearly as bare as a fallow. 
AVhen we once admit the advantage of letting a crop grow unchecked till it is fit 
for the scythe, for the sake of the ulterior benefit which may be derived from the full 
development of the root (independent of that of the blade, as in this case the land is 
robbed of the upper growth), the advantage to be gained from allowing the plant to 
attain maturity in cases where the upper growth is likewise to be turned to 
account upon the spot as dung, can never be gainsayed. There is no special virtue 
in the scythe's edge ; the stumps of plants left by the sheep's tooth will be quite as 
favourably circumstanced for renewed growth as if they had been mown, if only 
judgment be shown in regulating the fold according to the weather, so as to eat off 
the feed just " to the right pitch." 
The reason of the benefit derived from allowing the plant freely to develope 
itself is obvious. Each leaf that expands is a new mouth — it is a feeder as well as 
food. A store of leaves is to the plant its stock-in-trade ; the closely-gnawed root 
struggles on like an insolvent tradesman, who is never allowed to acquire capital, 
and consequently can never thrive ; whilst, to the freely-growing plant, the more 
it has, the more is added, until it attains its full growth and is ready for the process 
of fructification, from which point its constitution begins to deteriorate for the 
purpose of food. 
The only drawback or limit to the use of the fold arises from the fact — 1st. That 
lambs dislike restraint. 2ndly. That it is distasteful to them to fold the same 
ground a second or third time. 
It may, however, be observed on the 1st point that lambs of the improved breeds 
are not nearly so restless as the older races, and are more easily trained to bear 
restraint ; and, on the 2nd, that where summer-soiling with green food is 
carried on, as well as a good breadth of land reserved for hay, it will not be hard 
so to shift the lambs' feeding-ground that they shall not have to go twice over the 
same piece. The field first fed may be afterwards cut for soiling, whilst that mown 
for hay will provide after-feed for the lambs. Experience will soon show whether 
the after-growth springs most freely after the scythe or a properly-regulated fold. 
It is probably not wise to combat the natural repugnance of the lamb to feed after 
the fold ; for this instinct may be a safeguard against evil influences, too subtle 
for our philosophy in its present state. The mortality which in some districts has 
of late cari ied ofi' many of the older lambs has been attributed to want of attention 
to this warning, nor can any more plausible reason be assigned for the loss. The 
degree, however, to which the surface of the land is tainted probably varies 
according as the soil is wet and tenacious or dry and porous. On sandy soils lambs 
may be folded twice without injury ; and the older sheep, being less dainty and 
more hardy, may generally follow where the lambs have fed before. — P. II. E. 
