254 CROP PRODUCTION 



Rotation of Crops 



Find out whether the best fanners in your locahty 

 plant their fields to different crops each year. Ask 

 some successful farmer if he ever plants the same field 

 to. corn or potatoes for several years in succession. 



Learn what crops are used to follow one another by 

 the different farmers in your neighborhood and make 

 a table of as many reasons as you can find for the practice 

 of crop rotation in your vicinity. 



Dig up carefully a few plants of timothy, oats, wheat, 

 clover, corn, or other crops and see if you can find how 

 far down into the soil the roots go in each case. 



Tillage 



By tillage is meant some process of digging up and 

 working over the soil. It is the most fundamental prac- 

 tice in the production of the great majority of crops. 

 Unless the soil is tilled at rather frequent intervals, it 

 becomes so firm and hard that it is difficult for plant roots 

 to penetrate it and consequently the plants are unable 

 to thrive. 



The two principal kinds of tillage are deep tillage and 

 surface tillage. When we dig up a garden with a spade, 

 or plow a field to a depth of eight or ten inches, we are 

 practicing deep tillage. When we hoe or rake a garden, 

 or cultivate a field, we are practicing surface tillage. 



Deep tillage is necessary to furnish a proper place for 

 adequate root growth for most crops. It loosens up the 

 soil particles in such a way that they are easily penetrated 

 by the roots and rootlets and are able to furnish the 



