SECTION XXI. ROTATION OF CROPS 



ROTATION means change in some regular order. Rota- 

 tion of crops is the exact opposite of the growth of the 

 same crop year after year on the same land. It has been 

 found that when one kind of plant is grown year after 

 year on the same land, the yield decreases. If a different 

 kind of crop, peanuts or cowpeas for example, comes in 

 between two cotton crops or two wheat crops, the yield of 

 the cotton or wheat is greatly increased. The different 

 crops ought not only " to take time about " on any one 

 field, but should follow each other in a somewhat definite 

 order. It is impossible in this limited space to arrange 

 tables showing the best order for all crops on the different 

 soils. However, some reasons for rotation are given in 

 the following pages. 



Rotation to get rid of weeds. A corn field generally 

 contains more grass and weeds than a cotton field, because 

 the cultivation of the corn is usually stopped earlier in 

 the summer, thus giving grass a chance to spring up. 

 Cotton is cultivated so late into the summer that in the 

 fall a well-kept cotton field is nearly clean. If a field 

 produces several crops of oats or wheat in succession, it 

 becomes quite weedy. The wise farmer will grow on that 

 field one or two crops of cotton or of some other plant 

 that he cultivates very thoroughly, in order to get rid of 

 the weeds. 



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