ROTATIONS IN THE FAR WEST 



491 



are not commonly practiced, only small grain crops being 

 extensively grown. A system of farming based on a single 

 class of crops can hardly be called a rotation. The land is 

 usually sown to flax when it is first broken; wheat is then 

 grown for a period of years, when one or two crops of oats 

 or barley may be introduced, to be fol- 

 lowed again by wheat. Under this 

 system, weeds increase rapidly, and 

 it is often necessary to resort to the 

 bare fallow or, preferably, to introduce 

 a cultivated crop to control them. 

 The crops which are commonly intro- 

 duced are corn and potatoes, and both 

 are usually grown with success. 



675. Rotations in the Far West. 

 In the Great Plains, Rocky Mountain, 

 and Pacific states the systems of farm- 

 ing are yet too new for any general 

 series of rotations to have been adopted. 

 One which may be followed in the ini- 

 gated districts embraces three or four 

 successive crops of alfalfa, followed by 

 one or two crops of potatoes or sugar 

 beets and perhaps one or more of bar- 

 ley, wheat, or oats, when the land is 

 ^IhrrofatT^n in F^gS?n57 ^gaiu sccdod to alfalfa. In California, 

 TiSothy isTown ItthThe ^^ the dry lauds where grain is grown, 

 tl7firsTyearTfte?'siS ^ moro or less definite sequence of 

 Su'r'ed"'''^'^^^^''*'^ wheat, barley, and oats is somethnes 

 followed, but rotations which embrace 

 all the desirable features are little known. 



LABORATORY AND FIELD EXERCISES 

 L Draw a plan of the home farm or of some farm in the neighbor- 

 hood^and siiow the crops which are now grown on it. If a definite 

 rciat^on i» xiow /oliowed, tell whether it is a good one. If it is not, 



