A CORN-BELT FARMING SYSTEM. 



3 



hogs, there is nothing to correspond to the wheat harvest, which 

 always comes at about the time the corn crop should be given its last 

 cultivation. Haying, then, is the only job to look after from the 

 time the corn is laid by until it is necessary to cut corn or sow the fall 

 grain, which in this case is rye. Thus the program is not crowded, 

 and eachcropcan have its due attention withoutrushingorslighting any 

 part of the work. This makes it possible for a given crew to handle 

 a maximum acreage with the least possible expense for outside help. 

 In order that a clear and definite understanding may be had of the 

 entire system, its rotations, the layout of the fields ; and the methods 

 of handling the live stock, a diagram with fields numbered and crops 

 indicated is presented herewith (fig. 2). 



FIG. 2. Plan of a farm run on a 5-year rotation. 



This drawing represents an actual farm as it is being operated, with 

 the exception that one field is left in permanent pasture. Thus, the 

 real farm is being run on a 4-year rotation, but for the sake of illus- 

 tration it is shown on the 5-year plan, which, everything considered, 

 is probably the most desirable. This depends somewhat on the size 

 of the farm. If the farm is of sufficient size, a sixth field may well be 

 added and devoted to permanent pasture. 



As the crops are arranged in the drawing, the rotation moves one 

 field to the right each year. The details of the crop management are 

 as follows : 



Field No. 1. The crop in field No. 1 is first-year corn, or corn the 

 first year after sod. This corn is grown and hogged off as soon as it 

 is ripe. This process generally begins as soon as the corn has become 

 hard and as soon as the hogs can be brought up to full feed, or about 

 September 1 to 10. On some farms the commendable practice is 

 followed of sowing soy beans or rape, or both, at the last cultivation 

 of the corn, in order to furnish pasturage for the hogs while gathering 

 the corn crop. Generally this will furnish a large amount of forage, 

 and it is valuable not only on this account, but because of the humus- 

 forming material it affords that will be turned back into the soil. The 

 success of this practice depends somewhat on local conditions, but it 

 comes in so nicely with the hogging down of the corn and requires so 



