184 DRY FARMING 



the average yield of corn was 58 bus. per acre. This is 

 the oldest experiment of this kind on the continent of 

 America and the evidence it provides as to the value of 

 a suitable crop rotation may well be taken to heart by 

 all students interested in the development of a perman- 

 ent and profitable agriculture. 



The average yield from wheat grown continuously for 

 13 years on the rich Red River Valley soil of North 

 JDakota at Fargo was 13 bus. 8 Ibs. per acre, while the 

 average yield of the same crop in all the different rota- 

 tions under test for the same length of time and under 

 the same conditions was 19 bus. 8 Ibs. This is the nearest 

 to Western Canada of any rotation test that has been 

 conducted for more than a few years. The soil and 

 climatic conditions at Fargo are not very different from 

 those in the Red River Valley of Manitoba. The data 

 secured at Fargo emphasize the fact that even on our 

 relatively new *soils continuous cropping for a few years 

 results in a Considerable decrease in the productive 

 power of the soil, and the result should not be disre- 

 garded by the students of Western Canadian agri- 

 culture. 



In China and Japan w r here the land has been cropped 

 longer probably than in any other part of the world a 

 rotation is always practised, and it always includes a 

 legume crop, generally the soy bean. In Italy, where 

 agriculture is very intensive, a crop rotation including 

 legume crops has been practised for many centuries. In 

 England, Germany and France and all of the other agri- 

 cultural regions of Europe more or less systematic rota- 

 tions are the rule. In the corn belt of America the one- 

 crop system is fast giving way to a rotation including an 

 intertilled crop, a grain crop and a legume crop (clover 



