FARM MANAGEMENT 32i 



such a rotation he can tell, as many years ahead as he wishes, 

 to what crop a certain field will be planted. This enables 

 him to plan accordingly. He knows how many acres of 

 corn, oats and clover he will have each year, and about 

 how many bushels or tons he can ordinarily expect. Thus 

 he may provide the proper amount of storage room for his 

 crops. He will know about how much stock he can keep 

 each year, and can have just what machinery he needs. 



Effect on the Soil. — Another advantage gained by fol- 

 lowing such a rotation is that each crop leaves the soil in 

 good condition for the crop that is to follow. If the corn 

 crop is well cultivated, the oats may be sown the following 

 spring without plowing the land — simply by disking the 

 surface and making a good seed bed. The clover seed is 

 sown with the oats, and makes the crop the year after with- 

 out extra seeding. Thus three crops are grown and the 

 ground is plowed but once. That is, it is plowed for the 

 corn, grows the corn crop, then a crop of oats and a crop 

 of clover before it is again plowed. 



Rotation also helps to keep fields free from weeds. If 

 the corn crop is well cultivated many weed seeds are given 

 a favorable chance to grow, then the next cultivation kills 

 them. The clover crop, as you remember, is cut in the 

 latter part of June, which is earlier than most weeds ripen 

 their seeds. The crop is usually cut again for hay or seed, 

 so weeds are practically given no chance to ripen seed. 



All these advantages are gained simply by having a 

 systematic rotation plan to follow, and without increasing 

 the amount of work. But it does require a little more 

 thought than a haphazard system of cropping. 



Questions: 



1. What is meant by rotation of crops? 



2. What is meant by a systematic rotation? 



3. Show and explain the cropping of a farm in a simple sys- 

 tematic rotation. 



4. What are the advantages of a rotation? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If but one third of the land is plowed each year when cropped 

 to a 3-year rotation, how much is saved on a farm, with 90 acres of 

 field, if it costs $1.50 per acre to plow? 



2. If it costs $9.50 per acre to raise a crop of hay and $12.02 per 



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