CEREAL CULTIVATION EASTERN AREA 319 



following spring ; (2) corn with cowpeas sown between the 

 Tows at the last cultivation ; (3) wheat, followed by cow- 

 peas and then by rye sown the same season. The cow- 

 peas following wheat are either cut for hay or disked in or 

 plowed under as a green-manure. Note there is a legume 

 each year. The rye may be plowed under green in the 

 spring in time for cotton, or if allowed to mature, the 

 series becomes a 4-year rotation. From Alabama west- 

 ward, lespedeza does well, and in that district, a good 

 rotation is corn, oats, and lespedeza. Oats and the 

 lespedeza are sown together the second year and the 

 lespedeza is alone the third year, the latter reseeding itself 

 the last season. 



345. The place of each cereal in the rotation is im- 

 portant, and depends upon local conditions and other 

 circumstances. Wheat should be preceded by a legume, 

 but if the crop turned under is a heavy one, and the wheat 

 must follow shortly, it is preferable to insert corn between 

 them. For example, in a rotation including a clover sod 

 manured and turned under, corn should follow first, then 

 wheat or oats. In the corn-oats-cowpeas-cotton rotation, 

 oats follows corn as the cotton would come off too late 

 for the fall seeding. 1 Spring-sown oats could as well follow 

 the cotton. 



346. Cereals as nurse crops are very satisfactory. Less 

 seed should be used than when sown for other purposes. 

 Oats is often used for clover and grass. It is usually less 

 satisfactory than the other cereals, however, as it shades 

 the young clover and grass plants too much, and the 

 sudden change to full exposure to the sun on harvesting 

 sometimes injures them. Winter wheat is better because 



1 Except in cases where oats is sown between the cotton rows, 

 which is sometimes done. 



