92 



DISCUSSION OP FARM MANAGEMENT 



and clover, are introduced in order to restore again 

 the humus and nitrogen. When land has been 

 farmed a long time in wheat or corn, it finally ceases 

 to produce profitable crops. The soil is not neces- 

 sarily exhausted in fertility, but by a long period 

 of continuous cropping with one crop the diseases 



mi Whcat 

 1903 Corn 

 1901- WBegt 

 1905 Coni. 

 I90S tSorleu 

 l907G-rosi 



1908 Gross , 



1909 Fodder 

 1910. OqTs -i 



I90S Wheat 

 190 J Oatsy 

 1904- Corn. ^ 

 1905 Rarleu' 

 I30G Grass 



1907 Grass , 



1908 Fodder 



1909 Oa+s' 



1910 Corn 



Follow ■WFIq)^ 



Wheat- 



Oota 



Oats 



Corn. 



G-rass 

 G-ross ' 

 Fodder 



TTox ~ 



Wheat 



Wheat 



G-rqss 



G-ross 



Fodder 



Oots / 



CorrtV 



Grass 



Fallow'V-nQX. 



Wheal - 



rodcier 



Oa+a 



Corn. 



Barley 



Grass 



G-rgSs 



i5f odder 



g^ 



Oats 



Wheq-J- 



Wheol- 



G-rqas. 



Fodder, 



Oa1-3 



Corn. 



Rotatioa does not begin until 19Q5 





MCorn 

 051/l/fKaT 

 OGGrnss 

 07Grass 



Grass 



Follow 



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Gross 

 Fallow 

 Cora 

 Grass 

 G-rass 

 WhMt 



from the air in the soil is made available for the 

 use of the plant, and not only may large yields of 

 forage rich in nitrogen and protein be taken from 

 land planted with legume crops, but by the great 

 root -growth and the accumulation of humus by 

 these crops the nitrogen of the soil is actually 

 increased. Moreover, perennial legumes, such 

 as clover and alfalfa, are very deep feeders ; 

 thus a part of the mineral elements of plant- 

 food required by these crops is taken from 

 depths in the soil below the feeding-ground of 

 ordinary crops,, and by the large root-growth 

 in the surface soil there may be accumulated 

 a supply of the mineral elements of plant-food 

 which gradually becomes available, as the roots 

 decay, to crops which follow the legume crops. 

 When the wild prairie is first broken, the 

 soil is mellow, moist and rich, producing 

 abundant crops. After a few years of continu- 

 ous grain-cropping and cultivation, the physi- 

 cal condition of the soil changes — the soil- 

 grains become finer, the soil becomes more 

 compact and heavier to handle ; it dries out 

 quicker than it used to, and often turns over 

 in hard clods and lumps when plowed. The 

 perfect tilth and freedom from clods, so char- 

 acteristic of virgin soils, is al-A'ays more or 

 less completely restored when land has been 

 laid down to grass for a sufficient length of 

 time. 



Fig. 131. Plan of larm before (below) and after (above) laying 

 into regular fields; also plan for systematic rotation of crops. 



and insects which prey on the crop have accumu- 

 lated in the soil, and the organic matter and humus 

 and nitrogen have become more or less exhausted. 

 The land is really "wheat sick" or "corn sick," as 

 the case may be ; what it needs more than any- 

 thing else is a rotation of crops, which shall include 

 legumes and grasses, by which the organic matter, 

 exhausted by continuous cultivation and cropping 

 with one crop, may be restored. 



Grass is a soil-protector, a soil-renewer and a 

 soil - builder. Covering the land with grass is 

 nature's way of restoring to old, worn-out land the 

 fertility and good tilth characteristic of virgin 

 soil. The true grasses do not add nitrogen to the 

 soil, as do clover, alfalfa and other legume crops, 

 yet the grasses are, in a sense, nitrogen-gatherers, 

 in that the nitrogen of the soil is collected and 

 stored up in their roots. Thus, grasses prevent the 

 waste of nitrogen and other plant-food elements 

 and serve to protect the soil and to maintain its 

 fertility. By their extensive and deep-penetrating 

 root svstems, many grasses also tend to break up 

 and deepen the soil, gathering and storing plant- 

 food in the roots and thus actually increasing the 

 available plant-food content. 



The legume crops, such as clover and alfalfa, 

 not only accomplish all that grasses may accom- 

 plish, as described above, but also actually in- 

 crease the total and available supply of nitrogen 

 in the soil. By means of the bacteria which grow 

 on the roots of legume plants, free nitrogen taken 



out 



Rotation of crops. 



In order to maintain soil fertility, and at 

 the same time to make the greatest profit in 

 farming, a practicable and scientific rotation of 

 crops should include the following : 



(1) Grasses and perennial legumes. 



(2) Pasture, with an addition of manure one or 

 two years previous to breaking the sod. 



(3) Intertilled crops. 



(4) Small grain crops, with green-manuring crops 

 planted in the stubble after harvest. 



For a self-sustaining farm, small grain crops must 

 be grown. Often they are the greatest money-making 

 crops ; hence they must be given a prominent place 

 in the general crop rotation system. Intertilled 

 crops are often the money-making items of the 

 farm, also, and they are useful in a rotation plan 

 in order that the land may be cleared of weeds. 

 Especially is this true in a locality where small 

 grain is the main crop. Cultivation also con- 

 serves the soil moisture and develops the fertility 

 of the soil. 



Pasture must be had on every farm carrying 

 live-stock, and it is essential that it be made part of 

 the regular crop rotation. Many soils become too 

 light and mellow by continuous cropping and need 

 the trampling of stock to firm them. Much more 

 grass can be produced on tillable lands when the 

 pastures are kept fresh and new, and the increase 

 of fertility and improvement of soil texture result in 

 larger crops of corn and grain -when the meadow or 

 pasture is broken and planted again to these crops. 

 In some sections of the United States permanent 

 pastures develop the best sod, and on many farms 



