SOILS AND MANURES 359 



In the State of Rhode Island two different rotations with chap. 

 maize have been practised on light and worn-out lands : — VIIL 



(1) A four-year course . Maize, potatoes, rye, clover. 



(2) A five-year course . Maize, potatoes, rye, grass and clover for 



two years. 



In the State of Delaware the following rotation has been 

 practised to advantage : — 



First year . . . Maize, followed by crimson clover. 

 Second year . . . Cowpeas, followed by winter oats. 

 Third year . . . Red or crimson clover. 



In Louisiana, where the climatic conditions are more nearly 

 like those of the warmer parts of South Africa, the rotation 

 recommended by the State Agricultural Experiment Station 

 is : — 



First year . . . Maize. 



Second year . . . Oats, followed by cowpeas. 



Third year . . . Cotton. 



Another rotation practised in parts of the United States 



First year . . . Wheat. 



Second and third years . Clover and pasture (or hay) grass. 



Fourth year . . . Maize (manured with farmyard manure). 



In the Maize-belt of Illinois a twenty-year test was made 

 with maize after maize, as compared with maize in a six-course 

 rotation, viz., oats one year, clover three years, maize two years. 

 The average increase the first year after clover was 5 muids 1 20 

 lbs., and the second year 4 muids 51 lbs. {Hunt, 1). 



315. Some Transvaal Rotations. — No systematic plan of 

 rotation has yet been adopted in the Transvaal. On the light 

 sandy loams of some of the potato farms in the Standerton 

 District it is customary to grow maize for two years in suc- 

 cession after potatoes. From 600 to 800 lbs. per acre of 

 commercial fertilizer is applied to the potato crop ; the two 

 maize crops which follow use the residue of the manure not 

 required by the potatoes, and give crops varying from 20 down 

 to 15 muids per acre. On these soils, however, it has been 

 found that after six years' cropping a change is required, to 

 add humus to the soil. Farmers are, therefore, conducting 

 experiments to include green-manure crops in the rotation ; 



