ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 141 



far as possible, in a physical condition suitable to the develop- 

 ment of the root system of crops, and enabling them to secure 

 from underground water sufficient moisture to bring the crop 

 to full maturity. This may be and is difficult in all partially 

 exhausted soils, and more difficult in some seasons than in others ; 

 nor can the soil be put in the very best possible physical condition 

 without a supply of humus from some source or other. 



If the farmer once understands the necessity for putting his 

 soil in first class physical condition, it will not take long for 

 him to understand that in order to do this he must have a rota- 

 tion of crops. Whether the excreta of plant roots (if there be 

 excreta) poison the land for the same kind of crop, or not, none 

 the less all experience teaches that a rotation of crops is essential 

 to good farming. In these later years we understand what our 

 fathers did not : the necessity of having somewhere in the rota- 

 tion a leguminous crop — clover, alfalfa, cow peas or beans — in 

 order to increase the nitrogen in the soil, so essential to the de- 

 velopment of plant life and to the growth of animals. 



Therefore, no matter in what state in the union the farmer is 

 located, there must be rotation of crops. No one rotation will 

 do for every state, nor for every locality. What the rotation 

 should be will depend on the location of the farm with respect 

 to longitude, latitude, elevation and rainfall, on the kind of live 

 stock to be carried, and to some extent on the disposition and 

 qualifications of the farmer. For aid in deciding on the rotation 

 he must rely on his agricultural paper, on the publications of the 

 Department of Agriculture, on his agricultural college and ex- 

 periment station. The agricultural paper, in fact, is the medium 

 through which he is able to obtain easily the substance of things 

 taught by the teachers above mentioned, with suggestions as to 

 their application to his particular conditions. 



There are larg'e sections of the Mississippi Valley, and 

 among them the naturally richest sections, in which it seems to 

 be impossible to convince the farmers of the absolute necessity 

 of a proper rotation. They continue to insist that a rotation of 

 two crops of corn, followed by two crops of oats, or oats and 

 winter or spring wheat meets all the requirements. In all prob- 



