CHAPTER XXVII 

 SYSTEMS OF INTENSIVE CROPPING 



In market gardens located on high-priced land and in home 

 gardens where the available area is limited, it is usually desirable 

 to grow more than one crop on the same land the same season. 

 Even where land is cheap and abundant, it may be more desirable 

 to produce an extra crop of vegetables late in the season than to 

 allow the land to become infested with weeds, as would likely be 

 the case if it were allowed to be idle the rest of the season, follo\ving 

 the harvesting of a crop of early vegetables. 



The growing of more than one crop on the same land the same 

 season is usually referred to as double cropping. When two or 

 more crops occupy the land at the same time, they are referred 

 to as companion crops and the system is called companion cropping. 

 When one crop is removed before the other is planted the system 

 is called succession cropping. 



In companion cropping both crops are usually planted at or 

 near the same time, but one is harvested much earlier than the 

 other, thus allowing the later crop the entire space in which to 

 develop. In this case the early crop is usually incidental, and con- 

 sidered of much less importance than the later crop. For example, 

 radishes may be sown in the same row with parsnips. They serve 

 the double purpose of marking the row so that the parsnips may 

 receive early tillage, and of giving some revenue from the parsnip 

 ground early in the season. However, parsnips are the main crop, 

 and the radishes merely incidental. In some cases, the early or 

 incidental crop is planted between the rows of the later maturing 

 crop instead of being planted in the same row. For example, a 

 row of radishes may be sown between every two rows of string 

 beans. The radishes are pulled long before the bean harvest begins. 

 In some cases, both methods may be used at the same time, as 

 when head lettuce is planted between the rows of early cabbage 

 and also between the plants in the row. The lettuce is ready to 

 cut just before the cabbage needs all the room. 



Sometimes two companion crops may occupy the land nearly 

 the same length of time, but are so different in habit of growth 

 that they do not materially interfere with each other. This is 

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