BEST ORDER OF ROTATION 149 



to do between seed time and harvest. They cannot afford 

 to keep regular help ; and so when harvest comes, they 

 often have difficulty in securing all the labor they need. 

 Farming, too, will be a better business, and the farm will 

 be a better place to live, .when the farm laborers have a 

 regular home upon it instead of coming and going as 

 tramps. 



e. Rotation keeps down pests, like certain insects and 

 weeds. Different pests live upon different crops. By 

 changing the crops from time to time we can more easily 

 exterminate the pests. 



The best order of rotation depends upon the kind of 

 farming and the products of the district. Some districts 

 find a good five-year rotation in corn oats wheat or 

 rye clover and timothy timothy corn. This rota- 

 tion is practiced by many eastern farmers. Timothy is 

 drilled in with the fall wheat or rye, and the clover is 

 broadcasted early the following spring. The common 

 red clover usually dies out at the end of the second year, 

 but the timothy thickens up to take its place, and the 

 land is left in grass for two years. Manure is spread on 

 the sod, to be plowed under for the coming corn crop ; 

 and mineral fertilizers are drilled in with the wheat. 

 Some farmers spread much of their manure on the oat 

 stubble. This practice is not as good as the other one 

 mentioned, since the manure generally lies in the yard 

 until after the oat harvest and so loses much of its 

 value. 



A good three-year rotation for a potato section or a 

 dairy section is potatoes or corn wheat or oats clover. 



In alfalfa regions the alfalfa is usually allowed to stand 

 for four or five years ; then corn is planted for two 

 seasons ; finally wheat, rye, or oats ; and then alfalfa 

 again. 



