220 SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 



forms for a wheat crop. Under such a condition, oats 

 should first be sown, then wheat may follow. On 

 average soil a medium clover sod, plowed late in 

 summer or in early fall, and followed by surface cul- 

 tivation, leaves the land in good condition for spring 

 wheat. It is not advisable to have wheat follow bar- 

 ley, because the soil will be too porous, and barley 

 being a stronger feeding crop leaves the land in poor 

 condition as to available plant food. When a corn 

 crop is well manured, wheat may follow. The food 

 requirements of wheat are best satisfied following 

 a light, well cultivated clover sod, or following oats, 

 which have been grown on heavy sod, or following 

 corn that has been well manured. When wheat is 

 judiciously grown in a rotation and farm manures are 

 used it is not an exhausting crop. 



297. Barley. While wheat and barley belong to 

 the same general class of cereals, they differ greatly 

 in their habits and food requirements. Barley is a 

 stronger feeding crop, has greater root development 

 near the surface, and can utilize food in cruder forms. 

 In many of the western states, soils which produce 

 poor wheat crops, from too long cultivation, give ex- 

 cellent yields of barley. This is due to changed con- 

 ditions, of both the chemical and mechanical composi- 

 tion of the soil. Long cultivation has made the soil 

 porous and reduced the nitrogen content. Barley 

 thrives best on a rather open soil and has greater 

 nitrogen assimilative powers than wheat. Barley, 

 however, responds liberally to manuring, particularly 



