44 FOB BETTER CHOPS IN THE SO UTH 



a very good rotation with this crop can be arranged in which 

 oats occur. One rotation is that of corn, oats, and lespedeza. 

 Corn is harvested the first year, oats and lespedeza sown together 

 the second year, and the lespedeza alone the third year, the 

 latter re-seeding itself the last season. In this district lespedeza 

 appears to be an excellent hay crop. 



Fertilizers — Unless an abundance of stable manure is avail- 

 able or leguminous crops are grown in rotation, the small grains 

 will always require artificial fertilizers. Even in the best crop- 

 ping systems, these fertilizers may occasionally need to be used. 

 On medium or poor land it is usually necessary to apply acid 

 phosphate to the amount of 150 to 200 pounds per acre. It 



A wheat harvest in Tennessee 



should be applied at the time of seeding and drilled in with the 

 same drill that seeds the crop. Ordinarily the plant food most 

 needed is nitrogen. This is furnished in the form of nitrate of 

 soda and applied as a top dressing. For winter oats or for spring 

 seeding in the southern district, it is applied the first part of 

 March and for spring oats in the northern district in the latter 

 part of March. 



Soil Preparation— One of the greatest mistakes in grain 

 cultivation is the poor treatment given to the soil. When oats fol- 

 low corn the corn ground should have been plowed deep enough 

 so that the next plowing for oats need not be so deep; in fact, 

 if the corn has been well cultivated and the stalks taken off, a 

 good disking followed by the harrow will be sufficient. If win- 

 ter oats follow a crop taken off earlier in the summer, plowing 



