Ploughinf)-vi Green Crops. 
105 
scod, or a mixture of turnip, rape, rje, or winter oats, or any other 
(juick-growin^ crop. If the land is plou<;hed, it should either \y^ 
harrowed or rolled previous to the seed bcin"; sown, and the; seed 
lijjhtly covered by one tine of a lijjht harrow : this insures an 
even braid, and the seeds vej^etate more (|ni( kly than when th(!y 
arc dee])ly ojvered. If the land cannot be ploughed, the s(!ed is 
sown after tlie cultivator: with an early harvest and a mild 
autumn and fore-winter we jjet a good covering of vegetation on 
the ground by the end of October, which, as soon as wheat-seeding 
is completed and the horses can be spared, is at once ploughed- 
in ; if this can be done before any severe frosts set in, the benefit 
to the land is all the greater. The land remains in this state 
until the season for barley-seeding arrives, when either the plough 
or cultivator is used in preparing the seed-bed. The vegetable 
matter has by this time become decomposed ; the land not only 
works better, but is considerably enriched in manurial elements. 
The principal plants grown in this country, exclusively for 
green-manuring, are those of a rapid growth, possessing little 
value as food for stock, and the seeds and cultivation of which 
are inexpensive. Amongst the most prominent of this class arc 
the mustard, spurry, buckwheat, lupine, &c., which attain to a 
good height in a short period, and succeed best on light soils. 
My experience of growing crops of this description for the sole 
purpose of being ploughed-in was principally gained on a light 
barren sand, resembling the Bagshot Heath sand. This hungry 
soil was particularly deficient in vegetable matter, and required 
manuring for every crop. During the time 1 lived on this estate 
a farm was taken in hand which had become quite overrun with 
couch, thistles, and other weeds. A portion of the farm lay in 
small enclosures ; the tenancy expired at Michaelmas, and the 
first operation during tlie Avinter was to remove a great portion 
of the old wide hedge-rows and to reduce the dimensions of the 
rest. In doing this fields were thrown together which had the 
previous year been under a variety of crops : the whole was 
deeply ploughed in the early part of winter, and was not again 
disturbed until the following spring, when it was cross-ploughed 
and cleaning operations proceeded with ; however the cleaning 
could not be satisfactorily accomplished until the season was too 
far advanced to give a fair chance to a turnip-crop on the land, as 
it was in so exhausted a state. We therefore determined to try a 
crop of mustard to be ploughed-in : this we sowed from the com- 
mon clover-seed box rather thickly. The crop came up strong 
and grew rapidly, and in about six weeks from the date of sowing 
had attained a height of from 12 to 18 inches when it was ploughed- 
in. We had at first considerable difficulty in covering the large 
quantity of stuff ; but by using a heavy iron roll, working in 
