138 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Rotations for California. 



/ wish to work out a practical system of crop rotation suitable to the 

 climate and conditions obtaining in southern California. Would you 

 recommend different systems for grain lands and irrigated lands? 



General schemes of rotation are hard to work out in California. 

 They must be locally revised according to the local temperature con- 

 ditions and the local market also. We should endeavor to find out 

 what has been successfully grown on similar lands to those which 

 you have in mind and arrange the rotation on that basis, from what 

 we knew of the relation of the different plants to soil fertility, etc. 

 You cannot make out a satisfactory local scheme for the seven coun- 

 ties in southern California, because of the widely different behavior 

 of the separate plants in the different parts of the district. You can 

 hardly work on the basis of soil character: moisture supply and tem- 

 peratures are more determinative. Surely you should make a scheme 

 for irrigated land different from that for dry land, and it could not 

 only be a longer rotation, but many more plants would be available 

 for its service. 



Berseem? 



Berscem has been introduced into this country from Egypt, and ivould 

 like to knotv if it has been used in California, and if it has come u{^ 

 to expectations. 



Berseem is an annual clover supposed to grow only during the 

 summer time. It has been tried widely in California, but practically 

 abandoned because it will not grow during the rainy season. It is in 

 no way comparable to alfalfa, which is a deep rooted perennial plant, 

 nor would it be comparable with burr clover as a winter grower on 

 lands which have a moderate amount of water. 



Heating and Fermentation. 



Please explain why dampness zvill cause anything like hay, Egyptian 

 corn or other like products to heat. 



Heating is due to fermentation, which means the action upon 

 the vegetable substance of germs which begin to grow and multiply 

 after their kind whenever conditions favor them. The earlier stages 

 of this action is called "sweating," and it is beneficial as in the case 

 of hay, tobacco, dried fruits, etc., as is commonly recognized — resulting 

 in what is known as curing — and it is the art of the handler of such 

 products not to allow the action to go beyond what may be called 

 the normal "sweating." If not checked by proper handling, which 

 involves drying, cooling, etc., fermentation will continue, and (Jther 

 germs will find conditions suitable for them to take up their work of 

 destruction, and this new action produces higher temperature still, 

 and if not checked by cooling or drying or otherwise making the 

 substance inhospitable to them, "heating" will result, and thence on- 

 ward rapidly to decay, if they have everything their own way. 



