THE e^ 



GARDEN YARD ^ 



Some crops tead to correct the faults of others. 

 It has been proved that the continuous growing 

 of one crop injures the soil in some respect, and 

 the crop falls off both in quantity and quality. 

 Rotation tends to overcome this difficulty. 

 Then, too, this rotation works out and evens 

 up the inequalities of the soil, partly through the 

 different treatment required by the different 

 crops. 



Different plants draw different portions of 

 food from the soil and at different times. By 

 rotation these heavy drafts on the plant food 

 do not come at the same times, and the seasons 

 get a chance to even up the inequalities. 



Different plant food gets mixed into the soil, 

 so that the roots can feed on it, by the decay of 

 the parts left in the ground or which are plowed 

 under. But the greatest benefit comes from the 

 nitrogen compounds through growing plants, 

 such as cowpeas, crimson clover, etc.; these 

 "leguminous" plants have little knots or tubers 

 on their roots with the mysterious power of 

 gathering the free nitrogen out of the soil or 

 air, and turning it back again to the soil in 

 condition to be used by other plants. Now 

 nitrogen is the hardest to keep and the most 

 expensive of all the plant foods that the farmer 

 has to buy, and to get this nitrogen is sometimes 



