THE YOUNG FARMER 



disked in upon the corn stubble and the 

 next year the clover is pastured until about 

 June i, when it is allowed to go to seed. In 

 this rotation the only roughage obtained is 

 the corn stover and the oat straw. 



Another result reached by this rotation is 

 that only one-third the land is plowed an- 

 nually. In the four-course rotation men- 

 tioned above three-fourths of the land must 

 be plowed, while in the six-course rotation 

 one-half is plowed each year. In other 

 ways the character of the rotation modifies 

 the labor. For example, the labor and cost of 

 harvesting an acre of hay is much less than 

 that of producing, harvesting and thresh- 

 ing an acre of wheat. 



Rotations may often be planned with 

 reference to the main or cash crop. Thus in 

 the Aroostook (Maine) potato district the 

 rotation is potatoes, oats and clover. The 

 chief purpose of the oats and clover is to 

 keep down the blight in potatoes and add 

 through the clover nitrogen and organic 

 matter to the soil. 



A system of cropping that is best 

 104 



