Farming for Self-Sufficiency

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But the whole question of fodder beans has been neglected in Britain because we are getting so much cheap protein from other sources—principally the sea. At the present rate of exploitation though the main fishing grounds will be sterile in ten or twenty years and the supply of fish meal will begin to dry up. Then we will be searching around frantically for a source of protein that we can grow ourselves, and beans will probably have to be the answer. The soya bean is one of the major sources of protein in the world today, but unfortunately it will not grow in cold climates, We grew the kind of bean that Heinz use for their 'baked beans', in Suffolk, and it grew marvelously and we got good crops. We did not grow enough to feed much to stock but ate it ourselves. We tried it in Wales but had no success, but there is a small insect in ploughed-up grassland here which nips beans off at ground level for the first few years of ploughing. I suggest that every husbandman tries out every kind of bean he can lay his hands on to find the one which will crop best. Haricots; and other beans of that nature must not be planted before the last frost, otherwise it will nip them off.

LUCERNE

Lucerne, or alfalfa, is a marvellous plant. It is like a clover except that it stands more upright, and pushes its roots down to incredible depths in the soil. It can be cut three or four times in a summer, and even in England up to 15 tons of fodder can be got from it, of the highest quality. It makes fine hay, fine silage, and is marvellous fed green. If it is ensiled it must be mixed with say grass or green rye or oats, as it is too rich by itself. In South Africa, where irrigation allows it to be grown on the deep rich soils of the Karroo, I have seen eight cuts a year taken off it. It is only really of use in England in the dryer areas, such as Suffolk (where we included it in our 'seeds' mixture for establishing permanent pasture). If sown by itself the land must be super clean (i.e., weed free) or the weeds will get the better of it in a year or two. Your seed merchant may recommend inoculating your soil with B. radicicola, the bacterium which grows at its roots and enables it to fix nitrogen. It enriches the soil enormously, and much of the near-desert land of Breckland was reclaimed and made fertile by lucerne. Sow it in August, after you have spent most of the summer cleaning the land.

KALE AND CABBAGE

Kale and cabbage are great stock foods. They can be manured heavily with muck, and respond to large dressings of nitrogen if you want to give it to them. Cabbages and marrow stem kale should be used up first. Marrow stem kale is often grazed off -the land behind an electric fence. If you cut the cabbages by hand leave the stalks and they will sprout again to provide a bite for sheep or cows later on. You can clamp really hard drum-head cabbage. Hungry-gap kale should be planted as well, for this will withstand the winter frosts and give you a bite of green stuff in the dreaded 'hungry gap' when you most need it. If it is milk you are feeding for, in any sort of animal, nothing is as good as fresh green fodder. Kale can be drilled and hoed, or broadcast on clean land and not hoed. It makes most weight drilled and hoed but it is more work.

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