FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 55 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



A. E. PALMER, KALKASKA. 



A systematic rotation of crops may not be a panacea for all the evils 

 incident to Michigan agriculture, but it will go a long way in helping 

 many of us out of difficulties which confront us in our agricultural 

 operations. Too many of us, allured with the small amount of labor 

 involved, have for many years been following a grain and grass rota- 

 tion, i. e., wheat, oats and timothy, until we have reached a point on 

 mauy of our richest lands where the crops refused to be remunerative 

 because of soil depletion, and we are obliged to re-arrange our systeui 

 of cropping or seek other locations. 



Others of us have been adapting our crops to the basis of prevaiHug 

 pric(^s year after year, i-aying little or no Mtention to any particular 

 rotation. This, too, has proven a loss of original capital, rather than 

 a short road to wealth. Special crops alone, no matter how promising 

 ihey may be, are not going to help us out of present conditions. Such 

 crops should be handled with care. They are expensive to raise, be- 

 canse they demand the best land, intensive cultivation and most ma- 

 nures, at the expense of other parts of the farm, using only part of 

 the farmer's capital (soil fertility), while a proper rotation would use 

 all, with less waste and better results. 



The length of a rotation is of less moment than the character of the 

 crops making up the rotation. No uniform plan is- adapted to all parts 

 of our State, because of our widely different conditions — soils, mar- 

 kets and transportation charges. The peculiar environments and indi- 

 vidual tastes of each farmer must decide for himself. It is the object 

 of this paper to offer a few suggestions, which should be carefully con- 

 sidered before deciding upon the best form of crop rotation to adopt. 



Light, sandy soils require a shorter rotation than heavy clays or 

 rich, alluvial soils, but naturally rich lands which have been depleted 

 in fertility by mismanagement may be most quickly restored to orig- 

 inal conditions by a short rotation, and on any class of soils we take 

 less chances of failure of crops with a short than with a longer rota- 

 tion. However, science and the best practice seem to be thoroughly 

 agreed that a rotation which includes the clovers, cereals, hoed crops 

 and live stock may be safely adopted in any part of Michigan. 



All farm crops are dependent largely upon the three principal ele- 

 ments of plant food, nitrogen, potash and the phosphates, but they differ 

 widely in the amount of the different foods they take up, and do not 

 use the elements in any like proportion. While the fruit tree or the po- 

 tato plant draws largely upon the potash, the wheat and barley demand 

 more of the nitrates and phosphates; hence it is not good policy that 

 two such grain crops should follow in succession, preferably some other 

 crop using largely that element of plant food not excessively used by 

 the previous crop. So, also, two hoed crops succeeding one another has 

 additional disadvantages, notably the bare ground of fall and winter, 

 the danger of surface washing, the waste of nitrates resultant from 



