IMPBOV^ING THE HAY CROP 21 



but slight expense for labor and seed it makes pos- 

 sible a larger yield of forage in the same period 

 and at the same time increases rather than reduces 

 fertility. 



When oats is not a profitable grain crop, the 

 rotation may be changed so as to have two crops 

 of maize in succession, a method which has been 

 practiced with great success, particularly in the 

 eastern parts of New York and Pennsylvania, and 

 in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and parts of 

 Virginia. This system requires that crimson clover 

 be seeded in the corn at the last cultivation, w^iich 

 will make a crop of hay by the middle or latter 

 part of May, or in time to plant corn again, which 

 crop may be removed in time to seed to wheat. 

 After harvesting the wheat, the land may be disk- 

 harrowed and seeded with cowpeas or soybeans, 

 which may be made into hay, and the land then 

 seeded to clover and timothy as in the first 

 example. 



The value of the frequent introduction of cow- 

 peas and soybeans, which not only keep the land 

 occupied, but add to the forage capacity of the 

 farm, can hardly be overestimated, as the land 

 increases in productive value by the added crops 

 of hay, and it is improved both because of the con- 

 tinuous occupation with crops, and the added 

 nitrogen derived from the air; all this aids in the 

 growth of cereals, and results in a larger pro- 



