CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



The Oat Crop. In the northern part of the 

 corn belt the oat crop is profitable. In the south- 

 ern half of Ohio and regions of like temperature 

 the oat crop rarely pays. The heat, when the 

 oat is in the milk stage, usually is too great. The 

 tendency there is to eliminate this crop. Where 

 silage is wanted, the stubble-land can be seeded 

 directly to wheat with good results. A common 

 practice is to seed to wheat between the shocked 

 corn, and the wheat does poorly unless the soil 

 is quite fertile. 



Two Crops of Wheat. A common practice 

 has been to grow two crops of wheat, seeding first 

 in the corn stubble-land, and plowing the ground 

 for the second wheat crop, making a smooth sur- 

 face for mowing. This method ceased to pay well 

 when wheat became low in price. It has the ad- 

 vantage of giving two cash crops to the rotation. 



Where winter wheat does not thrive in the 

 north, it is dropped out, and the seeding to clover 

 and grass is with the oat crop. There is the com- 

 pensation of a large oat yield where the climate is 

 too cold for a good crop of wheat. 



The Clover and Timothy. The timothy and 

 clover sod is made inexpensively so far as labor 

 is concerned. The first crop of hay is chiefly 



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