156 Practical Farming 



which was in com the year before, will be in wheat, and 

 a third from which wheat was taken last year, will have a 

 stand of clover to be cut for hay. Starting then, in the 

 spring we will plow that sod deeply after having applied 

 to it all the manure that can be saved from the stock fed 

 during the winter, and hauled on the sod whenever it was 

 fit during the winter and spring, always remembering 

 that manure kept on hand is always losing value, and the 

 least loss is when it is spread on the field. If the land 

 had been long in sod it would have been better to have 

 plowed it the fall before, and to have run a subsoil plow 

 after the turning plow to deeply loosen the land, and then 

 to have sown rye as a winter cover and to catch the fleeting 

 nitrates that form even in the winter. But starting in the 

 spring, all we can do is to give the sod a deep breaking 

 and thorough preparation for the com crop. But having 

 deeply plowed the land and turned down the sod, the sub- 

 sequent cultivation of the com crop should be as shallow 

 and level as possible. From Pennsylvania southward it 

 is a good practice to sow some of the Southern cow peas 

 among the com at the last working, and later, as these 

 ripen and the leaves are faUing, to sow seed of crimson 

 clover among them, letting all remain as a winter cover if 

 the corn is to be followed by oats in spring and the rotation 

 made longer. But in the three-year rotation we are be- 

 ginning we will cut the com as soon as well glazed and 

 will shock it in rows as wide apart as practicable. Then, 

 if the peas have made a heavy growth they may be mown 

 for hay, but if not very heavy they can be chopped up with 

 the cutaway harrow and the surface made for and seeded 

 to wheat. Now, as this wheat will have ready for it a 



