i6i6 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



lo. A regular rotation of farm crops makes the farm work systematic. 

 Irregular rotations are better than none at all ; but when a definite rotation 

 is established and the cultivated fields on a farm are managed in con- 

 fomiity to this defim'te plan, labor can be employed more economically 

 than otherwise. " Plan your work and work your plan " is a saying 

 which applies best to farms on which a systematic definite rotation of crops 

 is practiced. Of course, a fixed rotation will not always be advisable. 

 Where market conditions fluctuate and climate is somewhat variable, 

 there should be some choice in one or more courses of a rotation. It 

 may be better, for example, to refrain from plowing up a good meadow 





^^^^-^^ "-^.i,^^ ^^■^■.,. ■" ■"4:'' 



Fig. 253. — The third consecutive corn crop grown on this field. The first and 

 second corn crops were fairly good, but the soil is poorly adapted to continuous 

 corn culture 



for a late-planted corn crop in a season when hay is selling for a high 

 price and corn planting has been deferred by cold wet weather. 



ROTATION AXIOMS 



I. Every rotation should be adapted to the soil on which it is grown, 

 to the prevailing climate, and to the purpose for which crops are grown. 

 Some soil types are more easily managed than others and the planning of 

 a suitable rotation may be a simple or a difficult task. Climatic condi- 

 tions cannot be controlled, but weather emergencies can be anticipated 

 and deprived of their worst discouragement by a flexible, though definite, 

 rotation of crops. The needs of farm live stock for feed and bedding, 

 the market price of purchased feeds, and the opportunity for profitable 



