34 RESULTS WHICH MAY BE ATTAINED 



farmed and the land poorly farmed is so great that 

 scientific farming experts are now calling the attention 

 of farmers by communities to the urgency of taking up 

 the study of certain crops and demonstrating the great 

 loss that is being sustained throughout the country in not 

 making closer study in requirements of cultivation for 

 large grain yields. It is rotation and diversity that are 

 lacking — the former to keep up the farm and the latter 

 to keep up the profits. 



Every practical rotation must contain crops that use 

 nitrogen and crops that gather it. For example, in the 

 common rotation of corn, wheat and clover, the first two 

 use nitrogen and the third gathers it. In fact, clover is 

 a user and a gatherer of nitrogen. Do not think because 

 a legume adds nitrogen to the soil that it does not use up 

 plant food ; in fact, leguminous crops use more potash 

 and phosphorus than most any of the grain crops. A 

 large amount of nitrogen is also used, but it is taken from 

 the air, and in addition an extra amount is stored up in 

 the soil. 



Now let the farmer push this diversification far beyond 

 the corn, wheat and clover crops. Cowpeas and oats 

 sown together make splendid fodder and benefit the soil. 

 They can be harvested by midsummer, and a crop of mil- 

 let grown on the same land by fall. Rye and clover sown 

 together in the fall can be cut for fodder by June I, and 

 potatoes, corn, rutabagas, millet or cowpeas grown the 

 same season. 



While farmers are making $20 to $30 an acre on heavy 

 grain crops, they should not overlook such products as 

 onions, beans, potatoes, sugar beets and fruit, which re- 

 turn a profit of $100 to $200 an acre. These are the 

 things which bring the large profits and place agriculture 

 on a business basis. 



Some of the easiest money in this country is made by 

 watching cows and hogs grow up. The man who has 



