8 The Bulletin. 



Second year — Red clover, with tlie second crop turned under after 

 maturity of seed for soil improvement and for storing seed in the soil. 



Third year — Corn. 



This gives a three-year rotation, with corn following clover and 

 wheat corn, which fit into each other nicely. In the Piedmont and 

 Eastern sections of the State a shorter rotation of w^heat, followed by 

 peas to be cut for hay or left on the ground and turned under for 

 soil improvement in the fall or winter for the first year, and corn the 

 second year, to be followed again by wheat or other small grain, gives 

 an excellent two-year rotation, which, with proper fertilization, would 

 improve the soil and the crop yields at the same time. Cotton may be 

 added to this rotation where the land is suitable, allowing the cotton 

 to follow wheat and peas the second year. Crimson clover may be 

 put in the cotton at last cultivation, or after first picking, and turned 

 under the third year in time for corn. 



Examinations of the upland and valley soils of the mountain 

 district and of the red clay and valley soils of the Piedmont show 

 them to be high in potash and poor in phosphoric acid, the amount of 

 nitrogen, or ammonia, in all of them depending on the amount of 

 organic matter, or humus, present. A fertilizer for best results on 

 these soils should contain but small amounts of potash and large 

 amounts of phosphoric acid, the amount of nitrogen, or ammonia, de- 

 pending on the organic matter present in them, and the size of the 

 stalk which the land will produce naturally without fertilizer; the 

 main office of the nitrogen being to produce stalk, without a satisfac- 

 tory growth of which a good crop of grain can not be obtained. Phos- 

 phoric acid and potash, and especially phosphoric acid, are needed to 

 cause the small grain heads to fill properly. 



A good application of fertilizer for wheat is 300 to 600 pounds per 

 acre. Where the land has been well prepared and is in good condition, 

 it will pay to fertilize liberally. As a rule, the fertilizer should be 

 applied in the fall at time of seeding. Good results will be obtained 

 from the use of one-half the nitrogen in the fall along with the phos- 

 phoric acid and potash, and the other half as a top dressing in the 

 spring after growth has well started from nitrate of soda or sulphate 

 of ammonia. Where wheat or other small grain has been grown in 

 one of the rotations suggested above or similar ones with soil-improving 

 crops, one-half the nitrogen in the mixtures may be omitted after the 

 rotation has been repeated one or more times, and may be left out 

 altogether after sufficient organic matter, or humus, has been stored in 

 the soil to produce a sufficiently large development of stalk for a good 

 crop of grain. In this case a top dressing of 75 to 100 pounds per 

 acre of nitrate of soda may be given just about the time the plants 

 begin to joint in the spring if the crop is not found growing ofT nicely. 



ADAPTATION 



We generally think of wheat as a plant suited to cold climates. 

 The great bulk of the crop is grown where the winters are very cold 

 and where the summer heat is seldom excessive. The most noted ex- 

 ceptions are the wheatfields of California, Egypt, and India. 



