site logo

I Own Some Hill Land Which Has Been Run Down By Continuous Hay Cropping

Categories: Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation

I am told that a portion must be summer-fallowed each year, but I wish

to grow some summer crop on this fallow ground that will both enrich the

soil and at the same time furnish good milk-producing feed for cows -

thoroughly cultivating it between the rows. What crop would be best? I

am told the common Kaffir or Egyptian corn are both soil enriching and

milk producing.



If you grow a summer crop on the sum
er-fallowed upland, you lose the

chief advantage of summer fallowing, which is the storing of moisture

for the following year's crop. A cultivated crop would waste less

moisture than a broadcast crop, surely, but on uplands without

irrigation it would take out all the moisture available and not act in

the line of a summer fallow.



Kaffir corn is not soil enriching. It has no such character. It probably

depletes the soil just as much as an ordinary corn or hay crop. It is a

good food to continue a milking period into the dry season, but you must

be careful not to allow your cattle to get too much green sorghum, for

it sometimes produces fatal results. We do not know anything which you

can grow during the summer without irrigation which would contribute to

the fertility of your land. If you had water and could grow clover or

some legume during the summer season, the desired effect on the soil

would be secured.



More

;