THE AGRICULTURAL FUTURE OF THE REGION. 36 



150 to 200 acres should be broken and the rest used for pasture. 

 These figures must be taken as only suggestive. It will appear to 

 many that the area here allowed for the pasturing of one animal is 

 excessive, but it is none too much. It will also be suggested that 

 cultivated grasses can be sown which will very much reduce this area; 

 but experience has not yet proved it advisable to make a general 

 practice of plowing up the native grass with the expectation of making 

 a better pasture by sowing something else. It must be remembered 

 that the higher rate of evaporation in the southern portion of the 

 territory makes the conditions there more severe and the > acreage 

 required larger than is necessary with the same rainfall farther north. 



On the heavier lands it now seems that the most promising system 

 of management is about as follows : Leave a large portion of the farm, 

 probably three-fourths, or all but 100 to 200 acres, in native pasture, 

 and keep all the dual-purpose cows the pasture will carry, along with 

 the young cattle, horses, and colts. Butter or cream is one of the 

 surest sources of income and profit. There should be pasture enough 

 to feed one animal for every 1 to 2 acres of land under cultivation; 

 in the best portions of the region, however, the farmers have not 

 always found it mo^t profitable to keep so much stock. There should 

 always be a large flock of poultry. Hens will lay in dry seasons as 

 well as in wet. One of the first objects on the farm land, then, must 

 be to raise feed for the stock. In seasons of good crops the farmer 

 must stack feed to carry over and to tide him through dry years. He 

 must reverse the old adage learned in his youth, ^^Lay by something 

 for a rainy day," and in this country must learn, both with regard to 

 himself and his stock, to lay by something for the dry day. Of the 

 farm land one-fifth to one-third should be summer-tilled each year for 

 winter wheat and potatoes for money crops, these to be followed with 

 corn or some fodder crop, and the third year with spring grain or 

 summer fallow. 



Assuming that the farm contains 640 acres, one-fourth of which is 

 under cultivation, the foregoing plans would call for one of the follow- 

 ing rotations on each field: 



Rotation for farm of 640 acres, one fourth under cultivation. 



THREE-YEAR ROTATION. 



First year, summer- tilled. 

 Second year, winter wheat 



and potatoes. 

 Third year, corn and rough 



feed. 



Fourth year, summer-tilled. 

 Fifth year, same as second. 

 Sixth year, same as third. 



FOUR-YEAR ROTATION. 



Summer-tilled. 



Winter wheat and potatoes. 



Corn. 



Spring grain and rough 



feed. 

 Summer-tilled . 

 Winter wheat and potatoes. 



FIVE-YEAR ROTATION. 



Summer-tilled. 



Winter wheat and potatoes. 



Corn. 



Spring grain. 



Rough feed and corn. 



Summer-tilled. 



215 



