CROPPING SYSTEMS FOR STOCK FARMS 279 



farm practically always has a surplus of some kinds of feed or a 

 shortage of others. For this reason he is compelled to keep 

 less stock than his farm would support with a properly planned 

 cropping system unless he is in a position to buy feed that may 

 be lacking. 



"Examples of Simple and Complex Rotations.— While a single 

 fixed rotation produces crops in fixed proportions, except for 

 variations in yield, and is thus inflexible, two rotations can 

 nearly always be so arranged as to produce any given crops in 

 any desired proportion. Suppose, for instance, that a dairy 

 farmer desires to produce annually 15 acres of corn for silage, 

 20 acres of corn for grain, 25 acres of oats for grain, and 60 

 acres of hay. He can do this by arranging two three-year 

 rotations as follows : 



A System of Two Simpi,b Rotations on a Dairy Farm 



First series Second series 



First year 35 acres corn First year ■ . 5 acres pea and oat hay 



Second vear / ^5 ^'^'^^^ °^^® Second j-ear. 5 acres timothy and 



•^ (. 10 acres pea and oat hay clover hay 



Third year .. 35 acres timothy and Third year. .. 5 acres timothy and 

 clover clover hay 



"This gives the exact acreage of each crop desired. If, in the 

 above cropping system, the area of oats exceeds that of corn, the 

 requirements being, say, 20 acres of corn, 25 acres of oats, and 

 60 acres of hay, we can arrange the rotations as follows : 

 A Second System op Two Simpi<e RoTATroNS on a Dairy Farm. 



First series Second series 



r 20 acres in corn for pj^st year 10 acres in peas 



First year.... grain and oats for hay ^ 



I. 5 acres in a hay crop ■' 



Second year 25 acres in oats for Second year 10 acres in timothy 



grain and clover for hay 



Third year 25 acres in timothy Third year 10 acres in timothy 



and clover for hay and clover for hay 



"The general plan in the foregoing scheme of two rotations 

 is to fill in the vacancies of the first and more usual rotation by 

 putting in some other crop which is grown mainly in the second 

 rotation. The scheme is therefore an elastic one, well suited 



