CHAPTER XIX 

 CROP ROTATION 



Early in the development of agriculture, it was understood 

 that a succession of different crops on any piece of land 

 gave better returns than did one crop raised continuously. 

 The practice of changing the crops raised each year thus 

 became customary, and the prevalence of the method among 

 European peoples shows that its benefits are widely appre- 

 ciated. In Great Britain and some of the countries of 

 Europe, crop rotations have been most systematically 

 and effectively developed . S uch development has been stim- 

 ulated by the diminishing productiveness of the soil, con- 

 sequent upon long-continued cultivation, coupled with an 

 increasing and progressive population. Regions having 

 undepleted and uninfested soil, as was formerly the case in 

 the prairie region of the United States, and countries that 

 have an unprogressive people, like those of India, have done 

 little with crop rotation. 



Another condition that discourages the use of crop rotation 

 is the suitability of a region to the production of some one 

 crop of outstanding value, combined, perhaps, with a rela- 

 tively cheap supply of fertilizing material. These conditions 

 obtain in the cotton belt of the United States. The abun- 

 dant use of fertilizers may postpone for a long time the 

 recourse to crop rotation. 



300. Crop rotation and soil productiveness. — There 

 are many benefits to be derived from a proper rotation of 



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