30 FOR BETTER CROPS 



Other Crops Benefited by Rotation Scheme — That the 

 rotation scheme is not all to favor the small grain crop may be 

 shown in case of the five-year rotation first named. 



The wheat, by serving as a nurse crop, among which the 

 newly seeded grass and clover may pass their first unproductive 

 season without cost, prepares the land for the two crops of 

 grass. The grass crops by cleaning, resting, and enriching the 

 soil prepare the land for a good crop of small grain the fourth 

 year. The second crop of small grain which may often be 

 followed with a crop of rye or turnips sown in spring to make 

 pasturage among the grain stubble in autumn, furnishes con- 

 ditions under which the manure may be hauled out and plowed 

 under in fall, winter, or spring in preparation for the corn crop. 

 The corn grown the fifth year reduces the manure from too 

 great activity, clears the surface soil of weeds, and compacts 

 the furrow slice so that it is in nearly an ideal condition under 

 which the small grain may be put in with shoe or hoe drill or 

 broadcast and disked in or covered in other suitable ways, and 

 the second series of five yearly crops is thus started out in good 

 condition. 



Chemical Fertilizer Tests Not Expensive — It is not ex- 

 pensive to make trials of chemical fertilizers on a given farm, 

 or on a given soil type. Thus a farmer, or a group of co-operating 

 farmers, can easily test their soils. 



Corn is a splendid crop to use in the north, and corn or cotton 

 in the south. The plots may be marked and the marks preserved 

 for a year so that the residual effect on the following crop of 

 grain may be observed, provided the effect is recorded. 



In making the trial with corn, the following general plan may 

 be pursued: Apply to plots three or more rows wide and ten or 

 more rods long, on land where uniform plots may be obtained 

 with alternating check plots not manured between, such amounts 

 of nitrogenous, phosphoric, and potash fertilizers and lime as 

 may be advised by the agriculturist of your state experiment 

 station; and follow his instructions as to time and manner of 

 application also. 



When the corn or cotton is ripe, harvest the fertilized plots 

 and the check plots separately, and measure or weigh so as to 

 determine whether the fertilizer gave any additional yield. It 

 is wise to liave one or two alley rows between each two plots, 

 because corn roots reach over across the row, often extending 

 five feet from the hill. 



If these preliminary trials show that the soil is weak along 

 any one line of plant food, or needs lime to correct acidity, the 

 experiments should be continued along that line to determine 

 how much fertilizers to use and to which crop in the rotation to 

 apply them. 



