The Bulletin. 19 



should be hauled and shredded or otherwise placed under shelter. Fre- 

 quent examinations should be made of the shocks to see when they are 

 dry enough to take in out of the weather. Do not let JSTovember find 

 the corn shocks still in the field, because much of both corn and stover 

 is likely to be rotten by this time. In a word, then, make small shocks, 

 thoroughly aerate them, and get them in out of the rain as soon as possi- 

 ble, and you will have little trouble with your corn harvested in this 

 manner. 



ROTATIONS. 



It is, at once, to our advantage and our detriment that the climatic 

 conditions in this latitude cause the humus of our soils to burn out with 

 great rapidity. With us oxidation of organic matter is far in excess of 

 normal accumulation of organic matter; while in the jSTorth and West 

 the terms are largely reversed, that is, normal accumulation of organic 

 matter is equal to or exceeds oxidation, and there is, therefore, a grad- 

 ual increase of vegetable matter in the soils from year to year, especially 

 when the land is not run continuously in a clean culture crop. 



This rapid burning out of the vegetable matter of our soils is to our 

 advantage, in that it enables the growing crop to get more plant food 

 from our soils in an equal space of time, and thus makes it possible for 

 us to produce larger acre yields, than the relatively richer but less active 

 black soils of the corn belt. With our soils well supplied with rich 

 humus, therefore, there is no question but that we can grow more corn 

 per acre than the farmer located on the colder corn lands of Ohio and 

 loAva. But, with the humus content of our lands reduced to a minimum, 

 our crop yields must also be brought below the point of profitable pro- 

 duction, and herein lies the danger attending the rapid oxidation of our 

 soil humus. 



There are a number of rotations that can be followed in the pro- 

 duction of the corn crop. In general, no rotation should be adopted that 

 does not provide a liberal yearly supply of organic matter for the soil. 

 As a rule, rotations should be short. In some cases corn may be success- 

 fully grown after corn for a number of years in case cowpeas and crim- 

 son clover are sown in the field at "laying by" time and plowed under 

 before the next crop is pitched. In this case the old cornstalks, cowpea 

 vines, and green clover should all be thoroughly disked to pieces before 

 plowing under in the spring. 



On the sandy soils of the coastal plain region a rotation of cotton, 

 corn, and oats may be practiced to advantage. Here the cotton should 

 be followed by rye and crimson clover sown in late summer or early fall 

 and plowed under for com in the spring. The corn may have the peas 

 sowed with it at the last cultivation and when the corn is pulled or cut 

 the peavines and corn stubble may be thoroughly disked and the land 

 sowed to winter oats. When the oats are cut in June the land should 

 be sowed to cowpeas, which should be cut for hay and the land seeded 

 to crimson clover to be plowed down for the following corn crop. 



