THE SUMMER FALLOW 181 



it most of the advantages of a fallow since it makes pos- 

 sible the storing of moisture, the killing of weeds, and 

 the developing of available plant food. Other practices 

 that offer some promise as partial substitutes for the fal- 

 low are (1) sunflowers planted in wide rows, (2) potatoes 

 and roots, (3) the early breaking of grass land, and (4) 

 the plowing in late summer or early fall of land sown 

 to cereals and cut early for hay or other purpose. 



The advantages gained in the better hay and pasture 

 areas by the early "breaking" of grass lands, or by the 

 later summer plowing of land sown to early maturing 

 feed crops make these practices fairly comparable in 

 effect to the fallow at least in the more humid parts; 

 while the introduction and use of intertilled crops, such 

 as corn, where it does well, of grain crops such as 

 Western Rye, Brome and Timothy, and of legume crops 

 like Alfalfa and' Sweet Clover, offers some promise of 

 enabling ii.^ to develop a system that will have the chief 

 advantages of the fallow without at the same time dis- 

 sipating organic matter and nitrogen so rapidly. 



