90 THE SOILS AND CROPS OF THE FARM. 



Prof. Wrightsoa gives the following specimen rota- 

 tions for clay lands in England: Poor clays — Fallow, 

 bare or cropped; wheat; beans, or oats, or clover. 

 Better clays — Fallow; wheat; beans; oats. Rich 

 clays — Fallow; wheat; beans; wheat; clover; wheat. 

 In each case the fallow land may be cultivated 

 throughout the season or have a "catch crop" on it 

 in the latter part of the season. 



In this country "roots," even including potatoes, are 

 little grown in comparison with the cereals. Peas 

 and beans also form but a very small percentage of 

 the crop acreage. Over much of the country the 

 choice in rotation is practically limited to grass and 

 clover, as the green crop; the small grains, usually 

 either wheat or oats or both, and Indian corn as the 

 hoed or cultivated crop. In a rotation made up of 

 these, the grass, and especially the clover, will be the 

 ^^manuring crop," the corn the "cleansing crop," and 

 the small grains will be, as a whole, the most "ex- 

 hausting crops." There are large regions to which 

 these statements do not apply — as in the cotton, 

 special potato, or tobacco -growing regions, but the to- 

 tals of these, large as they are, are relatively small. 



Where it is adapted to the soil and climate, red 

 clover is the most valuable crop in a rotation for this 

 country. It gives a large crop of good food for 

 either pasture or hay. It leaves a large quantity of 

 vegetable matter on and in the soil, in its roots and 

 stubble. This contains much nitrogen, and the min- 

 eral matter has largely been [brought from a lower 

 depth of soil than the roots of some crops reach. 

 The decay of the roots not only increases the stock of 

 humus in the soil but helps its physical condition. 



