2 BULLETIN 219, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



corn growing possessed merit as a preparation of the land for a crop 

 of small grain. When these two factors are combined in one crop 

 they make its growth of double importance. Corn is the only crop 

 at present available that offers this advantage which at the same 

 time lends itself to large acreage and a general farming system. 



The grain sorghums fit equally well into a farming system that 

 includes the production of live stock, but they are not adapted to the 

 whole of the Great Plains, and furthermore have not in general 

 shown an effect so beneficial as corn on the following crop. 



Potatoes have approximately the same effect as corn upon most 

 crops that may follow them, but the potato crop does not lend itself 

 so well to growth on a large acreage. 



The effect of the growth and clean cultivation of corn as compared 

 with summer tillage and various other methods of preparation has 

 been shown in bulletins simultaneously written on the growth of 

 spring wheat, oats, and barley in the Great Plains area. In these 

 publications it has been shown that the crops following corn have 

 consistently given high yields as compared with other methods of 

 preparing a seed bed for these crops. In many cases the highest 

 yields of small grain have been obtained on disked corn ground. In 

 many other cases where disked corn ground has not been productive 

 of the highest yields, it has so nearly approached them that when the 

 cost of preparation is considered it is found to be productive of the 

 greatest profit. This has attached so much importance to the corn 

 crop that it appears to be desirable to present the actual data on the 

 production of corn in the different years at the different stations and 

 under different methods of cultivation and preparation for the crop. 



While corn in most cases has been grown in preparing for other 

 crops and in cropping systems primarily arranged for the growth 

 of other crops, the necessity for studying methods of producing 

 the crop itself has not been overlooked. In general terms, corn 

 has been grown by different methods under a system of continuous 

 cropping. It has been grown at some stations in 2-year rotations 

 of alternate corn and wheat and corn and oats. It has been grown 

 in 3-year rotations where the other two crops were wheat and oats 

 or barley and oats. It has been grown in 4-year rotations with 

 small grains and fallow or the use of green manure. It has also 

 been raised as the second crop from the sod in sod rotations. In 

 some of the rotations manure has been applied before plowing the 

 ground for corn. 



Some of the rotations are calculated to conserve or increase the 

 fertility of the soil, while others may perhaps deplete it. In the 

 present stage of the work the effects of the rotations as units are 

 greatly overshadowed by the effects of the cropping and cultivation 

 for a single year. This is due to the fact that the controlling factors 



