158 Missouri Agricultural JReport. 



out before it gets even a fair start. This fact seemed to have been 

 greatly overlooked by the great mass of farmers. The physical condi- 

 tion of the soils on many farms is continually growing worse. They are 

 becoming more lifeless and less friendly to young clover from year to 

 year. 



Farmers are urged to consider its importance and to do all in tlieir 

 power to correct the evil. The hard, cx)mpact condition of the surface 

 soil in the spring, witli its tendency to bake and dry out, must be over- 

 come. Supplying humus and vegetable material as rapidly as possible 

 will accomplish this result. As this is done perhaps one of the most com- 

 mon causes of clover failure will be removed. Until this is done there 

 will be great need of pulverizing the surface and breaking up the sur- 

 face crust by tlie use of some such implement as the harrow or drill. 



Rotations containing cowpeas and soybeans preceding wheat. — In 

 the southern part of Ohio a very interesting practice was found. Some 

 of the farmers have adopted rotations in which cowpeas or soybeans 

 come in just l)efore the wheat crop. It is the usual practice to make 

 the crop into hay in time to have the ground ready for fall seeding, but 

 occasionally the entire crop of cowpeas or soybeans is rolled down 

 and crossed with a disk in the preparation of the ground for wheat. 

 By using a disk drill the wheat can be sown without any inconvenience 

 because of the litter on the surface of the soil. The accumulation of 

 eowpea and soybean vines on the surface of the ground serves as a 

 mulch very much on the order of the straw just discussed, and is very 

 helpful in getting a stand of clover. In fact, it only emphasizes again 

 the great value of some accumulation of vegetable matter on the surface 

 of the soil to keep it in better condition for the growing of the young clover 

 plants. The nitrogen furnished by these crops is also a great stimulus 

 to the wheat as well as the clover throughout its growth. The practice 

 of turning the entire crop back to soil, however, is somewhat wasteful. 

 If it could be so arranged as to have the peas and beans ripen early 

 enough it would l)e better economy to gather them with hogs, thus allow- 

 ing only the vines to fall back to the soil. This would accomplish the 

 same results in reference to the stand of clover, besides getting the 

 value of the crop in pork. 



Rotations including rye. — Rye is becoming more and more popular 

 as a crop in the rotation in which clover is sown. It has some points 

 of advantage over wheat in that it grows taller and less dense and does 

 not shade the clover so much as wheat. The methods of seeding clover 

 in rye are much the same as in wheat. The seed is sown in the spring 

 by the usual methods. Harrowing the rye can l)e resorted to the same 



