The Bulletin. 19 



When the seed corn is cared for in this way, its vitality is pre- 

 served, a good stand is assured and the chances of a better crop greatly 

 enhanced. 



CROP ROTATION AND COVER CROPS. 



It is impossible to grow good crops on the same field year after 

 year except by thorough tillage and cultivation, the addition of fer- 

 tilizers and the proper rotation of crops to maintain the fertility of 

 the land. Single crop farming in clean cultivated crops has proved 

 to be the ruin of many a fertile field, and has led to the financial dis- 

 aster of many hard-working farmers. There are many farmers who 

 do not yet appreciate the value of a good rotation that admits of the 

 growing of summer and winter legumes and other cover crops for the 

 improvement of the soil. In this age of enlightenment, with the 

 knowledge of better methods, and a better system of farming that is 

 now ours, and with the opportunities for observing and acquiring in- 

 formation that we now have, and with the pernicious effects of the old 

 system to be seen everywhere, should man be allowed to farm the 

 land in such manner as to deplete its fertility, allow it to wash and 

 gully, leaving it in worse condition than he found it and making it 

 harder for his successor to earn a livelihood ? Public sentiment should 

 and will eventually put an end to such methods. 



We rotate crops and grow legumes and cover crops because it is 

 the cheapest way known to improve and maintain fertility in the soil. 

 Vegetable matter is to the soil as grass, hay or forage is to live stock, 

 or the vegetables on the farmer's table to his family, necessary a? 

 food and to keep it in good physical condition. 



Vegetable matter carries nitrogen, and since nitrogen enters more 

 largely into the composition of crops, and is the most expensive ele- 

 ment in fertilizers, and hardest to retain in the soil, and the only 

 element of plant food that can be gotten free by growing crops that 

 will gather it from the air, and since it ranks next in importance to 

 water in crop production, it is imperative that the farmer keeps at 

 a high degree the vegetable contents of his soil, and puts on cover 

 crops winter and summer to prevent leaching of soluble nitrogen, 

 and to keep up the supply of nitrogenous organic material in the 

 soil. 



That we may better understand the importance of the legumes and 

 how to grow them it may not be amiss to give some specific instruc- 

 tions in regard to some of them. These crops, which we know a« 

 cowpeas, soy beans, the clovers, vetches, alfalfa, etc., have the power 

 of obtaining through the agency of bacteria peculiar to these plants 

 free nitrogen from the air. But to grow these crops successfully 

 there are certain soil requirements or conditions that must be met, 

 otherwise the crop will be a failure. The soil should be well drained. 



