XXII. ROTATION OF CROPS 



FARMERS have learned by experience that it is not wise to attempt 

 to grow the same crop year after year in the same field without 

 change, and they have also learned that certain crops must follow 

 each other in a certain order to secure the best results. Thus the 

 farmer may plant corn the first year, potatoes the second year, 

 wheat the third year, and clover the fourth year. This change of 

 crops in regular order and according to fixed principles we call 

 rotation of crops. During the fifth year, the farmer may, if he 

 chooses, repeat the crop raised during the first year and obtain 

 good results. In some of the States of the Middle West farmers 

 follow their corn crop with wheat or oats and this with clover. 

 The latter is frequently sowed with the wheat, and it makes its 

 growth after the wheat is cut and harvested. The clover crop is 

 usually permitted to grow two years or more before a change is 

 made. Generally speaking, we may say that at least four crops 

 should be included in our scheme of rotation in order to secure the 

 best yield possible. 



Evils of the One-crop System. Many farmers in the corn 

 belt region of the United States raise nothing but corn year after 

 year, and the yield diminishes with each successive crop until 

 finally there is scarcely enough realized to pay the cost of the pro- 

 duction. Many farmers in the Gulf States make the same mistake 

 in attempting to raise nothing but cotton. The feed for their 

 teams and the food needed for themselves, which might be easily 

 raised on the farm, is bought in the market. Under such a policy 

 it is not surprising that such farmers are frequently compelled to 

 place a mortgage on their growing crop, on their teams, and on all 

 their farming implements in order to secure the provisions they 

 need while the crop is being made. Should this particular crop 

 be a failure, the farmer would not only lose all of his labor and time, 

 but all of his working capital. The man who attempts to raise only 



124 



