104 



AGRICULTURE 



the main place is given; this is usually the one which prevailed 

 under the one-crop system, tobacco, wheat, corn, or cotton. 



Second, there should be 

 grain and fodder crops to 

 provide food for man and 

 beast. Third, there should 

 be at least one legume to 

 supply humus and plant 

 food. 



Principles of Rotation. 

 There are no hard-and- 

 fast rules as to the crops in a rotation. Yet the rotation should 

 be arranged according to definite principles so as to secure cer- 

 tain advantages for the farm and the farmer. 



First: Crops should rotate so as to give every year a money- 

 market crop. It is better if a farmer can have two or more money 

 crops, marketable at different seasons. Of course, the main 

 one should be a profitable one. To determine the profitableness 

 of a crop, the farmer must consider not merely selling price, but 

 cost of production and market condition. The cost of produc- 

 tion includes labor and fertilizers and the demand on soil fer- 

 tility. It must always be borne in mind, in considering the profit 

 and loss of crops, that the elements removed from the soil must 

 be returned in some form. Tobacco costs much labor to produce, 

 and makes great demands on the soil for plant food which must 

 be returned in the shape of fertilizers and manures. The selling 

 price must be high to make it profitable. Hay and grass, on 

 the other hand, demand less labor and remove less fertility; thus 

 they can be profitably sold at a lower price. If live stock be sold, 

 or still better live-stock products, such as milk and butter, little 

 fertility is removed from the farm, and the chief cost is in labor. 



