FARM MANAGEMENT 



409 



yields from depleted fertility. Grass crops are re- 

 garded as humus-building crops and are, therefore, 

 valuable in building up the crop-producing power of 

 the land, especially when the grass crops are fed on the 

 farm and the manure is hauled on the land. The decay- 

 ing roots aid in opening up the subsoil, affording better 

 underdrainage and more free entrance of air. The roots 

 and leaves also add to the vegetable matter of the soil. 



Cultivated crops are useful in clearing the land from 

 weeds, but are destructive of humus ; if continued on 

 the same land for a few years, they will rapidly reduce 

 the producing power of the land. 



The best farm practice calls for the arrangement of 

 these three classes of crops in a systematic scheme of 

 cropping which brings them in succession on each field 

 of the farm. 



Some of the crops upon each farm are used for feed ; 

 others are sold for cash and removed entirely from the 

 farm. The system of farming which provides for the 

 use of all of the crops on the farm as food, selling the 

 product in the form of live stock or live stock products 

 is most conservative of the fertility of the farm. 



Suggestions on Crop Rotation. A good scheme of crop rota- 

 tion implies the division of the farm into a number of fields of nearly 

 uniform size. Ordinarily, there should be a field for each year in the 

 rotation, that is, a three-year rotation will be best followed if the farm 

 is divided into three fields, or a five-year rotation if the farm is divided 

 into five fields. Such a division of the farm distributes the crops each 

 year and makes uniform the labor required and the product received. 

 Consequently, the labor can be adjusted to the needs of the business. 



If live stock is kept, the cropping system can be so arranged as to 

 lessen the work in summer and increase it in the winter when farm 

 labor is comparatively cheap, thus increasing the profit. No scheme 



