22 



AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



EXPERIMENT 



Select a small area of ground at your home and divide it into four 

 sections, as shown in the following sketch : 



On Section A apply barnyard manure ; on Section B apply com- 

 mercial fertilizers ; on Section C apply nothing, but till well ; on Section 



D apply nothing, and till very poorly. 



A, y and C should all be thoroughly 

 plowed and harrowed. Then add barn- 

 yard manure to A, commercial fertil- 

 izers to B, and harrow A, B, and C at 

 least four times until the soil is mellow 

 and fine. D will most likely be cloddy, 

 like many fields that we often see. 

 Now plant on each plat some crop like 

 cotton, corn, or wheat. When the plats 

 are ready to harvest, measure the yield 

 of each and determine whether the in- 

 creased yield of the best plats has paid 

 for the outlay for tillage and manure. 

 The pupil will be much interested in 

 the results obtained from the first crop. 

 Now follow a system of crop rotation on the plats. Clover can 

 follow corn or cotton or wheat ; and cowpeas, wheat. Then deter- 

 mine the yield of each plat for this second crop. By following these 

 plats for several years, and increasing the number, the pupils will learn 

 many things of greatest value. 



FIG. 13 



SECTION VII MANURING THE SOIL 



In the early days of our history when the soil was new 

 and rich, we were not compelled to use large amounts of 

 manures and fertilizers. Yet our histories speak of an 

 Indian named Squanto who came into one of the New Eng- 

 land colonies and showed the colonists how, by planting a 

 fish in each hill of corn, they could obtain larger yields. 



