Forage Crops Other Than Grasses: How to Cultivate, Harvest and Use Them by Thomas Shaw

Author:Thomas Shaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orange Judd Co.
Published: 1899-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

From one to two pounds of seed will usually prove sufficient to sow per acre. On winter grain crop& the seed will have to be broadcasted. It should then be covered with a harrow. The harrowing will also be helpful to the grain when it is judiciously done. On spring grain it may be sown with the grass-seeder attachment of the grain drill when it has one, and except on stiff soils the seed should fall before the drill tubes. When the seed is thus dropped before the drill tubes it will be sufficiently covered. When it is sown just after the grain it will, in nearly all instances, be necessary to cover it with the harrow, except on lumpy or cloddy soils. On these the roller ought to be used rather than the harrow.

If the seed should be sown just when the blades of the grain begin to appear, a light harrowing at that time will not only cover the seed, but it will be helpful to the grain, that is to say, when the soil is not too wet to be harrowed.

Of the various kinds of spring grain, barley makes the best nurse crop for turnips, because of the less dense growth which it produces, and because

of its early removal. Oats is the most unsuitable as a nurse crop for reasons just the opposite.

The value of the turnip crop for forage will depend much on the character of the season and soil. In any case, the turnips are not likely to grow so as to hinder growth in the grain crop. But under favorable conditions they will come on after the crop is harvested and will produce an excellent growth of top and root. In very dry seasons they may not give any return, but in turnip growing sections it is seldom, indeed, that the crop will not be found worth more than the seed and the cost of sowing it.

Pasturing. —The sheep or other live stock that are to be pastured on the turnips may be allowed freedom of access to the pastures after the first two or three days. And if they can have access to other grass pasture, the outcome will be still further satisfactory, for the danger of an unduly lax condition of the bowels is less likely to occur. The pasturing should be completed before the weather becomes really cold, for turnips freeze much more easily than rutabagas, and when hard frozen they should not be eaten by the stock.

Observations. —i. When rape and fall turnips are thus grown together, the combination is an excellent one for sheep. The seed of each may be sown in equal quantities.

2. When fall turnips are thus sown with grain, the plowing of the land must usually be deferred until late in the season, and this is- so far an objection to the system.

3. When the turnips grow to a large size, as they sometimes do, the largest are harvested and

stored away for late feeding before the grazing begins.

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