FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA. 83 



seven groups are all above the average in labor income. Undoubt- 

 edly, a good deal depends on the quality of the live stock kept. A 

 farm having a large herd of cows of very high quality could probably 

 afford to ignore the matter of diversity of business to a. much greater 

 extent than one having a herd of medium quality. In other words, 

 quality of business may, within limits, compensate for lack of di- 

 versity of business. 



THE STANDARD ROTATION. 



We have already seen that as early as the latter part of the eight- 

 eenth century there began to be practiced in Chester County a crop 

 rotation consisting essentially of corn the first year after sod; flax, 

 oats, and barley the second year; wheat the third year, followed by 

 grass, usually clover or clover and timothy. This rotation is said 

 to have become quite general as early as 1820. Essentially the same 

 rotation is described as being common in 1853. This general form 

 of rotation persists to-day, and is quite commonly practiced, though 

 with some modifications. The more usual form of it as now prac- 

 ticed is : First year, corn ; second year, part corn, part potatoes, and 

 part oats or a combination of any two of these; third year, wheat; 

 fourth and fifth years, hay, usually clover and timothy. Some far- 

 mers omit potatoes, some the oats (replacing them usually by corn), 

 while there is considerable variation in the length of time the meadow 

 is maintained before plowing it up for corn again. In previous 

 tables the acreage of these crops has been given in percentage of the 

 entire crop area on the farm, including miscellaneous field crops and 

 orchards. In Table XLIX the percentages are reduced to the basis 

 of the crops mentioned. 



Table XLIX. — The standard rotation. 



Year. 



Crop. 



Average 

 acreage 

 on 378 

 farms. o 



Suggested rotations. 



5-year. 



6-year. 



First 



Corn 



Per cent. 

 20.0 



Corn 



Per cent. 

 20 



Year. 

 First 



Corn 



Per cent. 

 16? 







[Corn 



< Potatoes .. 

 (Oats 



3.0 

 6.2 

 6.6 



Corn 



Potatoes. . 



14 

 6 



Second 



Corn 







16f 



Third 



Wheat.... 



18.8 



Wheat.... 



20 



Third 



[Potatoes.. 

 {Annual 

 I hay crop 



6 





10| 



Fourth and fifth & 



Hay 



45.4 



Hay 



40 



Fourth.... 



Wheat 



16| 













Fifth and 

 sixth 



Hay 



33J 



a Counting only the crops mentioned in this table. 

 b Sometimes sixth also. 



