100 FIELD CROPS 



The corn crop is commonly cultivated throughout the 

 growing season. This cultivation aerates the soil and con- 

 serves moisture, hence decomposition takes place more 

 rapidly in a cultivated field than in a field that is not culti- 

 vated. This rapid decomposition caused by cultivation 

 liberates large quantities of plant food. On this account, 

 planting a field to corn stimulates the liberation of plant 

 food and naturally leaves the soil richer in available plant 

 food for succeeding crops. This may easily account for 

 the larger yields which usually follow cropping a field for 

 one year to corn. It is evident, however, that if the field is 

 planted to corn year after year, the supply of vegetable mat- 

 ter will be quite rapidly depleted, so that the soil will soon 

 fail to respond to the stimulation of cultivation. This 

 accounts for the fact that when a field is planted for a number 

 of years in succession, it rapidly decreases in productivity. 



119. Importance of Corn in the Rotation. Owing to the 

 stimulating and the cleaning effects of cultivation on the soil 

 and the influence the crop has on the number of live stock 

 kept, by furnishing an abundance of cheap and desirable 

 feed, corn has a very important relation to the cropping 

 system of the farm. Diversification, rotation of crops, 

 and the keeping of live stock usually lead to increased pro- 

 duction and larger farm profits. 



120. Rotations which Include Corn. One of the very 

 common and desirable rotations for corn is the following: 

 First year, grain; second year, clover; third year, corn. 

 This rotation is giving good results, especially on some of the 

 lighter soils. On heavier soils, there is danger if the corn 

 and clover are fed on the farm and the manure returned to 

 the land, that the soil will become so rich that the grain 

 crop following the corn will lodge. It is, however, an excel- 

 lent system of rotation for building up run-down soils; when 



