The Btlletin 45 



ent time. At the same tiiiio the treatment should be such as to give 

 good substantial financial returns on the investment. The method in 

 common use by farmers should be sucli that their soils would become 

 more productive from year to year. The investigations that have been 

 conducted by the Division of Agronomy in previous years have been 

 carried on primarily to determine the most economical methods of fer- 

 tilizing the various soil types in this and other counties of the State and 

 at the same time to take the information thus secured and apply it in 

 conjunction with systems of crop rotation found suited for different 

 conditions for the purpose of helping the farmer increase the producing 

 power of his soils. From information thus far secured we are able to 

 recommend methods which if followed by the farmers of Cabarrus 

 County will maintain their soils in a far more productive condition than 

 they are at the present time. 



In providing the necessary plant-food constitutents as recommended 

 above for the different soils it is necessary to adopt good systems of 

 crop rotation, if the best and most profitable returns per acre are to be 

 secured. The following rotations are recommended as well adapted for 

 conditions jDrevailing in the county: 



First Year — Corn with soy beans or cowpeas drilled in the row at 

 planting or befoi'e the first cultivation. They may be broadcasted just 

 before the last cultivation if this is more desirable. 



Second Year — Wheat or oats, followed by red clover, spring seeding. 



Third Year — Red clover. 



This is a short rotation, admirably adapted for use by the grain 

 farmers of the county. .It will be essential to use lime where red clover 

 is seeded in order to be sure of success. The corn stover and wheat 

 straw from such a rotation should be plowed in or be fed to stock and the 

 manure carefully saved and returned to the soil. The soy beans or 

 cowpeas and the last crop of red clover in the third year should be 

 turned in to add to the organic matter and nitrogen supply of the soil. 

 In starting this rotation on average soils of the county, use the fertilizing 

 mixture given above for leguminous crops. If available, farm uianure 

 may be used with acid phosphate. In that case, if the application 

 is fairly liberal, the necessity for applying nitrogen in the fertilizer 

 mixture will be materially reduced or entirely done away with. 



During the first year that wheat or oats are grown on the land, they 

 should receive the treatment indicated above for corn. In addition to 

 the acid phosphate it would be well to apply 200 to 400 pounds of rock 

 phosphate, as this fertilizer is for both the wheat and clover crop that 

 is to follow. An application of 600 to 800 pounds per acre of rock 

 phosphate to a good cro]) of red clover at the time or just before it is 

 turned into the soil might furnish much of the phosphoric acid required 

 by the crops of the second period of the rotation. Within a compara- 

 tively short time enough nitrogen should be furnished by the soy beans 

 or cowpeas, the clover, and the roughage or stable manure, if the crops 



