CONTINUOUS CROPPING: DOES IT PAY? 19 



ment as the fact that there is anybody left on the land 

 at all, or that there are still farmers willing to incur 

 the- risk of any innovation. 



The Continuous Cropping system does not entirely 

 eliminate the element of risk from farming — such a 

 thing in agriculture might well be described as 

 impossible — but it greatly reduces the risk. It does 

 away, to a large extent, with idle periods. It gives 

 a man more scope for the application of brains and 

 energy. It opens up possibilities of making agri- 

 culture what it should be — an industry in which the 

 brainiest of out population might well find room for 

 the exercise of their mental activities. It makes 

 farming interesting and enjoyable, and to do that is 

 to make it profitable. 



THE COMMERCIAL TEST 



Do not, however, let the reader imagine there is 

 anything in the system of the nature of an easily 

 applied panacea. Many have made that mistake, and 

 have found later that while the rewards, mental and 

 financial, of Continuous Cropping are high, the 

 acquirement of the necessary knowledge — as is the 

 case with all knowledge — is by no means easy, and 

 can only be acquired by close study and practical 

 experience. 



One of the main reasons why practical men look 

 askance, or to be more literally correct, view with 

 supreme contempt, any recommendation of a scientific 

 tinge, is because of the number of improvement 

 schemes which have been placed before them by well- 

 meaning enthusiasts, who have not themselves tested 

 their schemes in a practical manner. Unfortunately, 

 in some instances, these schemes have been launched 

 as scientific discoveries of great importance, and later, 



