On Green or Fodder Crops. 
129 
this grand crop of haj has been taken ; and should the harvest 
not be early the land can be utilised for the August-sown kale- 
seed to be put into it to produce the crop before referred to 
lor April feed. The flock feeds chiefly on vetches in summer 
after finishing with trifolium, and in the latter summer and 
throughout autumn principally on cabbages. Two acres of 
land are drilled to Drumhead cabbage-seed in October. Trans- 
plantings from this ground are effected in spring to raise crops 
for autumn feedings. 
When questioned at the Farmers' Club, Mr. Russell affirmed 
that his sheep were accustomed to devour nearly the whole of 
the stalks of thousand-headed kale, and that he found very 
little, if any, waste. As this experience does not appear to be 
thoroughly endorsed by others who have made trial of the plant, 
no doubt the circumstance is referable to the cause previously 
pointed out that the crops at Horton are not allowed to remain 
until old. The fact becomes worthy of prominent notice, as a 
well-known sheep-breeder, reputed for his good farming in 
another part of England, writes to me as follows : — 
" Thousand-headed kale-crops I have gi'own, and believe them to be very 
good for sheej), especially for ewes and lambs in the spring, but I should like 
them to be grown on somebody else's land, as on light land with a good tilth 
the roots will spread from row to row ; in fact, they cover the ground like a 
young ash plantation. I once grew 2 or 3 acres, with swedes on the one 
side, and kohl-rabi on the other. They grew as high as the hurdles, and 
there looked to be an immense amount of food, but 1 believe the sheep got 
over them quite as fast as when on swedes or kohl-rabi, and I have no hesita- 
tion in saying that I caited oif more stalks and roots from 2 acres, than from 
20 acres of kohl-rabi." 
Of those who have made trial of the crop, a great many more 
praise than speak ill of it ; thus Mr. John Treadwell says : — 
" I grow only a small patch or two of thousand-headed kale, just to have a 
little green stuff for my rams during winter and early spring. Last year 
I sowed some seed after the last summer vetches — in August, I believe. 
This turned out some very nice feed late in the spring, when consumed with a 
few mangolds, and the sheep did very well upon it. I think well ol it, although 
doubting whether it will yield generally as much feed as a crop of roots." 
Mr. Charles Kent says that thousand-headed kale has been 
grown on the large sheep-farms of Dorset for some time to a 
larger extent than cabbage, and is considered a very useful 
healthy green-crop for sheep and lambs. He adds : — 
"It produces a large amount of feed, will keep well in frost, and in wet 
weather stock will thrive on it better than on turnips. Like cabbage, it 
requires the land to be well prepared, but 1 do not consider that it injures the 
following corn-crop so much as the former crop does." 
Mr. G, Galpin, another Dorset sheep-farmer, says : — 
"I am rather in favour of thousand-headed kale on light soils, as, although 
VOL. XVIII. — S. S. K 
