On Green or Fodder Crops. 
131 
some degree of certainty as to its capabilities of standing the severest winter. 
Here we drilled in six acres of it late in May 1880, intending to feed it off in 
October ; but an abundant crop of early turnips prevented this being done, 
consequently the kale stood through the winter, and has been finished within 
the past week. Late in autumn it was a marvellous crop. The severe frost 
of January caused it to droop considerably, as it was grown in an exposed 
field where no snowdrifts could protect it. And as the green beads were 
visible from a great distance, thousands of wood-pigeons were most assiduous 
in their attentions to the kale, at a time when turnip-tops, tares, and clovers 
were buried beneath the snow, and at one time they threatened its complete 
destruction. But no sooner did milder weather set in than the kale shot 
out afresh, and we at once commenced feeding part of it off upon the land, 
and carting the remainder to cattle in the yards, and ewes and lambs upon 
sheltered pastures. So vigorous were the thousand-heads at the end of March 
that a friend, well acquainted with the London market, strongly recommended 
their being gathered, bagged and trucked for Covent Garden. This would 
have been tried, as he prophesied that ' a fortune might be made,' had not 
other work absorbed all available hands at the time. But hundreds upon 
hundreds of loads were cut off and carted to the stock, and during the early 
weeks of the present month many a well-to-do neighbour and many a cottager 
enjoyed the luxury of ' a mess of greens,' gathered, by permission, when all 
the garden produce was cut off. The abundance of keep which the plot of 
ground has turned off since the end of February has been a cause of wonder to 
many, and I have had numerous applications for seed for the present year, so 
that I have been enabled to give Messrs. Sutton and Sons a good order, as the 
previous lot came from Beading. I should mention that this field of kale was 
grown upon the home farm of Sir Edward C. Dcring, Bart., of Suwenden, and 
on heavy land. During the present week we hope to drill in several acres of 
kale for autumn feeding, and later on in the season — towards the end of July 
or the beginning of August — some acres more for the spring of 1882." 
A Dorset agriculturist wrote as follows : — 
" Last year I drilled in May some nine acres with kale. The snow certainly 
broke the plants down in a few places, hut they withstood the frost in a won- 
derful manner. The difficulty that I found was in thawing the leaves suffi- 
ciently to make them suitable food for some sixty stall-fed dairy cows. Of 
course, too, during the heavy snow the crop became useless to me, as it was 
necessary to dig out each plant, and then it was a difficult matter to cut the 
frozen stalks. It is for these reasons that I think roots are preferable as 
winter food for stall-fed beasts. I find that some stalks of the plants cut 
early in the autumn have not sprouted out again as those that were cut in 
mid-winter. This, I suppose, is owing to the exposure throughout the whole 
winter without the natural protection from the leaves. My sheep are now 
folded over the stalks, and although, owing to the backward spring, there is 
not so much keep as there would have been otherwise, yet it is a very 
valuable piece of feed at this season of the year (April). As regards the 
cultivation of this crop I am a decided advocate of seed-beds, and for the 
following reasons:— (1) One-tenth of the seed used in drilling is sufficient. 
(2) Instead of 50s. per acre for artificial manures, one-fifth of the money is 
ample. (3) The fly (Aphis), so destructive to these young plants, may be 
more easily guarded against in a seed-bed. (4) More time can be spared for 
preparing the land, and the first crop of weeds can usually be destroyed. No 
doubt dibbling is more expensive than drilling, but I think that with cabbage- 
plants it is much cheaper on the whole, I have seen in this neighbourhood 
''^^^ral very good pieces of kale, none of them at all damaged. ''Our soil i.s 
chalky and hilly, so that although exposed to the winds, perhaps our crops 
are less affected by frosts than those of a moister climate." 
K 2 
