202 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



The sugar beet is excellent to precede all grain crops. [See 

 Chapter on Beets for sugar.) Corn on sod ground is the common 

 practice, and we do not know that it can be improved 'upon. 

 We are aware that corn is often raised on tbe same ground for 

 successively five, ten, and even twenty years, but such a prac- 

 tice is simple folly. AYe should not follow roots with corn a,s a 

 o-erieral rule, although we have met with, good success on 

 heavily manured land. The grasses are usually sown with and 

 therefore follow grain in almost any system of rotation. 



The rule to be observed in all rotations is: If any crop takes 

 up a large proportion of any given element from the soil, do 

 not folloAV it with another crop requiring the same element. 

 The rotation on prairie soils is often confined to grass, corn, and 

 wheat, the grain being all removed, and the straw burned. 

 This is an exhaustive process; and there should be substituted 

 for it, at once, a more extended rotation, or at least a system of 

 mixed husbandry, which shall consume a portion of the grain, 

 with the hay, stalks, and straw, on the farm, and return them to 

 the soil. The systems of rotation for cotton and other crops 

 are given in connection with the culture of those crops. 



In conclusion, we would say, raise such crops, and in such 

 quantities, that you can give each a full share of attention, re- 

 membering that to get the best crops requires the best care, and 

 make it your ruling principle that the best market for your 

 crops is in the manger, the stall, and the piggery. 



