ROTATIONS AND TYPES OF FARMING 325 



When cleared of timber and brush it is advisable to get clover 

 started as soon as possible, not merely to provide pasturage and hay, 

 but to help in controlhng the weeds and to improve the soil. A 

 spring-tooth harrow or a disk is helpful in getting the clover seeded. 



Plowing. — It requires a good plow to turn heavy clays well. 

 In some sections the disk plow is the best to use. Fall plowing is 

 usually advisable. Subsoihng to deepen the seed bed and to create 

 a more open subsoil is sometimes practiced. Dynamite is also 

 used at times to open the subsoil so as to facilitate the entrance of 

 air, water and roots. It is best to do either subsoiling or dyna- 

 miting when the groxmd is sufficiently/ dry to prevent puddling 

 (Chapter X) . 



Crops for Heavy Clays. — ^Because of their fine texture, clays 

 are especially well adapted to crops having fine and fibrous roots, 

 such as red-top, timothy, etc. 



Crop adaptation to heavy clays may be summarized as follows: 



Crops Well Adapted Crops Which Can Be Crops Not Adapted 



to Clays Grown Successftdly to Clays 



Red-top Sweet clover Barley Vegetables 



Timothy Wheat Cora Truck crops 



Clover Oats Potatoes Sugar beets 



Field peas Rye Rutabagas 



Turnips 



Rotations and Types of Fanning. — Much depends upon a 

 good system of cropping to increase the productive power of 

 clays. The following are good rotations for dairy farms: 



A — 1. Corn (manured). 2. Grain (seeded to clover and timo- 

 thy). 3. Clover. 4. Pasture or mixed hay. 



B — 1. Wheat (seeded to sweet clover to plow^ under). 2. Corn 

 (manured). 3. Oats (seeded to clover). 4. Clover. 



When the oats are seeded to a mixture of grasses this may be 

 made a five-year rotation with pasture the fifth year. 



C — 1. Wheat (.needed to clover); (fertilized). 2. Clover. 3. 

 Corn (properly fertilized). 4. Peas (peas for sale as seed). 



D — 1. Small grain (seeded to mixed grasses). 2. Clover. 3. 

 Mixed hay or pasture. 4. Peas (cash crop). 5. A cultivated crop. 



For grain-farming, the following rotation is well adapted: 



E — 1. Spring wheat (seeded to clover and timothy). 2. Clover 

 (cut for seed) . 3. Mixed hay. 4. Peas (for sale as seed). 



IMPROVEMENT OP DEPLETED SILT LOAMS 



Depleted silt loams are common particularly in the Eastern 

 and Central states. They are the result of too severe cropping, 



