CROPPING AND FEEDING SYSTEMS 173 



through the return of crop residues in the form of barnyard manure. This 

 calls for the feeding of a considerable portion of the general farm crops. 



Crop Rotations. From the standpoint of the farm scheme, a rotation 

 should ordinarily provide the roughage and pasture for the number of 

 animals that are to be kept. It should include a sod and a legume for the 

 supply of organic matter and nitrogen. It. should also include as large an 

 area of the profitable cash crops as can be produced advantageously. In 

 nearly every region there is one cash crop or sometimes several that pay 

 better than other crops. In the South it is cotton; in the corn belt it is 

 corn; in the New England states it may be hay; in some other districts it 

 is apples. These crops should dominate both from the standpoint of area 

 and the care which they are given. Agricultural surveys show that the 

 most successful farmers follow this practice. 



Crops for Cash or for Feed. The cash products may be either soil 

 products or animal products. When animals dominate, the cropping system 

 should be adjusted to meet their needs. Many small factors should be 

 considered. The amount of bedding required should not be neglected. 

 A crop that is of low value as a cash crop may be grown particularly for the 

 straw it supplies for bedding. 



Milk may be produced more cheaply by allowing the liquid excrements 

 of the cows to go to waste rather than by going to the expense of securing 

 sufficient bedding to absorb it. If, however, the saving of the liquid by the 

 use of straw will increase the yield of corn for ensilage and result in 12 tons 

 per acre instead of 8 and a corresponding increase in the other crops that 

 are grown for feed, the enterprise as a whole will undoubtedly be much more 

 profitable by providing the necessary straw for bedding purposes. 



Straw contains a considerable part of the fertilizer constituents removed 

 from the soil by a crop of grain. Prices for straw seldom justify selling it. 

 If it cannot be used as bedding for livestock and returned to the fields in the 

 manure, it should be returned in some other way. The practice of burning 

 straw should be universally condemned. In cereal farming, the grain 

 should be cut as high as possible, thus leaving the major portion of the straw 

 on the land. 



In some localities a cash crop may be grown, marketed and the pro- 

 ceeds enable the farmer to purchase twice as much of a given stock feed as 

 he could produce on an equal area of land. Under such conditions the 

 exchange is justifiable. In dairy districts farmers are often able to produce 

 potatoes, and with the potatoes purchase more cow feed than they could 

 possibly produce on the land devoted to potatoes. 



Crops Related to Feed Requirements. When grown chiefly for live- 

 stock, the proportion of the different crops should be determined to con- 

 siderable extent by the requirements of the stock. One can ascertain how 

 much of each crop should be produced by establishing what seems to be the 

 best feeding system for the animals in question and calculating the year's 

 requirements of silage, clover hay and grain as concentrates. Knowing the 



