OUTLINE OF CROP MANAGEMENT 



89 



alone, which has been such an undesirable practice in the South. Velvet bean and beggar-weed are 

 special leguminous crops sometimes employed in the extreme South. 



Nearly all special crops can be grown without rotation, because the market value of their products 

 IS so high that the grower can afford to resort to extra manuring and other expensive practices in order 

 to keep the land in good heart. This is the chief reason for the excessive use of stable-manure, in mar- 

 ket-gardening, a use which usually far exceeds the needs of the crops in mere plant-food. When the 

 land is not too high-priced, it is a practice with gardeners to " rest " part of the land now and then in 

 clover. Orchards do not lend themselves readily to rotation, although peaches generally do not follow 

 peaches directly nor apples follow apples. In order to supply the humus to these lands and at the same 

 time to secure the benefits of tillage, the practice of cover-cropping has lately come into practice. This is 



.^!B| 



Fig. 129. 



The modem reaper and binder. 



the use of some quick-growing crop that can be sown in midsummer or later, after tillage is completed ; 

 usually this is plowed under early the following spring. Acceptable cover-crops are crimson clover, 

 vetches, peas, rye and sometimes buckwheat, rape or cereals. 



A contrast of rotations (to be compared with those on succeeding pages). Tabular view of " a regular 

 Succession of Crops in Rotation," as proposed by Varlo in "A New System of Husbandry," Philadelphia, 

 1785. This is part of a farm scheme for a property of 150 acres, to be stocked with horses, cattle, hogs 

 and sheep. Countiiag all labor and other outlay, Varlo estimates an annual expense for the six years of 

 £265 16s., and an. annual profit of £402 4s. 



