SECTION XXXVIII. 



CROPPING SYSTEMS FOR STOCK FARMS. 



All over this country there are certain farmers who manage 

 their lands better than others and thus make greater profits. 

 These farmers are not plentiful but are scattered about and give 

 us practical examples of farming systems best adapted to their 

 localities. The cropping systems for stock farms vary of course 

 with the nature of stock, nature of the crops grown, locality 

 of the farm, nature of the land, size of the farm, price of labor, 

 results desired, etc. 



Cropping systems are well illustrated by Spillman in the 1907 

 Year-book of the United States Dept. of Agriculture, from which 

 the following is taken : 



"Rotation Defined. A rotation of crops is a succession of 

 crops, one following another on the same land. If these crops 

 continually recur in a fixed order, the rotation is a definite one. 

 If they recur at regular intervals, the rotation is said to be a 

 fixed rotation. A definite rotation may not be a fixed rotation; 

 for example, in many parts of the country it is customary to leave 

 grass lands down from three to six or more years, the length of 

 time depending on the condition of the sod, the supply of labor, 

 feed requirements of stock, etc. When the sod is plowed up, 

 the land is planted in corn, then wheat is sown, and grass fol- 

 lows. This rotation is perfectly definite as to the crops grown 

 and the order in which these crops follow each other, but it is 

 not fixed as to the number of years it occupies. 



"Fixed rotations are not objectionable on farms that grow 

 crops for sale, provided, of course, the crops are such as bring 

 a satisfactory profit and proper measures are taken to conserve 

 the fertility of the soil. We shall later see also that fixed 1 

 rotations are practically necessary on certain types of stock 

 farms where one or more of the crops in the rotation are used 

 for pasture, and where, consequently, the fields must be separate- 

 ly fenced. But a single fixed rotation practically never produces 

 crops in the needed proportions on the stock farm. Hence, the 

 stockman who runs a single fixed rotation covering his whole 



