32 FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



kind of food and the other plant a different kind. 

 Eoots, therefore, that seem crowded may not really be 

 crowded. 



11. How the good farmer imitates Nature : the 

 rotation of crops. In all this the good farmer imitates 

 Nature. He is ever planning to get fresh food for 

 his crops. Last year, the forty acre paddock was 

 sown with turnips. Now the turnip has a short root, 

 and therefore is a surface-feeder. Also, the turnip 

 root takes a great deal of lime out of the soil. This 

 year, the same paddock is sown with barley, which 

 needs very little lime ; and next year, it will be laid 

 down in clover which sends its roots deep into the 

 ground. And so on, till the ground is ready for the 

 turnips again ; and the circle is complete. ^Tien a 

 wheel circles round, it is said to rotate. Hence this 

 plan of the farmer is called the rotation of crops. 

 No man, you see, can be a good farmer who does not 

 know what kind of food a plant needs, and whether 

 it roots deep or near the surface. Nor can he be 

 called a good farmer unless he stirs his ground deeply 

 so that the roots may be able to go deep down for 

 food and moisture. 



12. How the farmer can double his farm. A 

 fanner who farms in this way can make two blades to 

 grow where one grew before ; and this is as good as 

 doubling the size of his farm. If all our farmers did 

 this, it would be as good as doubling "\'ictoria. The 

 farmer who farms in this way will soon hold as 

 high a place among men as the doctor or the lawyer 

 or any other learned man. Such a farmer, too, will 

 always be finding out something new ; for there is 

 much still to learn about plants and soils, and about 



