FIELD CROPS 433 



a good crop of cotton will also produce good corn, although dry, 

 upland clay soils, which will make a fair yield of cotton when well 

 fertilized, are not so well suited to corn as those which are richer 

 in decayed vegetable matter (humus) and so suffer less from 

 drought. Heavy crops of corn can often be grown on soils which 

 produce a too-rank growth of cotton stalks without a corresponding 

 amount of fruit. The best soil for corn is a rich, sandy loam which 

 is well drained and which contains a fair amount of humus. As 

 corn makes a rapid and succulent growth it should be grown on a 

 soil which holds moisture well, and as the weight of the ears bears 

 a close proportion to the size of the stalks the soil can not well be 

 too rich. Humus is of more importance in the retention of moisture 

 than any other one ingredient of the soil, and a loamy soil which 

 is rich in this material seldom suffers from drought. 



Owing to the heavy winter rainfall in the Southern States 

 plowing should be done only a short time before planting. Fall 

 plowing for corn is seldom a good practice, excepting on new 

 ground where a tough sod must be rotted before the soil can be 

 made mellow. It is not a good practice to leave the bare soil ex- 

 posed to the washing and leaching of the winter rains. For this 

 reason, when tough sod land is to be planted in corn it is usually 

 better to plow in the preceding spring or early summer and sow in 

 peas, as the peas will rot and mellow the sod better than any other 

 crop which can be grown, and corn seldom fails to make a heavy 

 yield on ' land treated in that manner. The plowing should be 

 deep and thorough. 



The harrowing should be as thorough as the plowing, and there 

 is no danger that it will be overdone. The harrow should follow the 

 plow very closely in order to pulverize the soil before it becomes 

 dried in hard clods, and if the land is not planted immediately 

 the harrow should be used again just before planting to kill the 

 germinating weed seeds. The labor expended in a thorough prepa- 

 ration of the soil shows its effects through the whole season in the 

 better stand which will be secured, in the less amount of labor 

 needed in cultivation, and in the increased yield. 



Rotations. A crop of cotton occupies the land during the 

 entire year and is a poor preparatory crop for corn, but where it is 

 made the principal crop, as it will always be on many plantations, 

 corn must sometimes follow it, and the best rotation must depend 

 on the proportionate areas which are given to each of the two 

 crops. Where two-thirds or more of the land is used for cotton, 

 with no permanent hay fields, as is very common in the Yazoo 

 Delta ana many other rich alluvial regions, a common rotation is: 

 First year, cotton; second year, corn and cowpeas and winter oats 

 and vetch; third year, cotton. 



Where only one-half the land is used for cotton, different 

 rotations are more easily arranged. One four-year rotation which 

 gives very good satisfaction is: First year, cotton; second year, 

 cotton; third year, cowpeas and oats and vetch; fourth year, corn 

 and cowpeas. In this rotation the corn is preceded by t\vo legumi- 



