CROP ROTATION COMPARED WITH CONTINUOUS CROPPING. 27 



bushel. Figuring wheat on a 90-cents-per-bushel basis, which is 

 approximately the present market price, oats should bring about 

 51 cents and barley about 73 cents per bushel. This is considerably 

 in excess of present farm prices for oats and barley, which shows 

 that they are at present and have been for the last ten years rela- 

 tively too low in comparison with wheat. 



This is an important consideration with every farmer who is 

 planning to diversify his crops in order to adopt a system of crop 

 rotation. It is evident that in order to receive equal immediate 

 cash returns for his crops he must accomplish one or more of the 

 following results: 



(1) He must, by selecting varieties especially adapted to the 

 locality or by better methods of tillage, increase the relative yields 

 of oats and barley as compared with wheat above those obtained in 

 these investigations; or (2) he must, by raising oats or barley of 

 superior quality, obtain prices in advance of the average market 

 price; or (3) he must, by feeding these grains, realize more than the 

 market price for them; or (4) he must, by adopting a rotation of 

 crops instead of cropping continuously to the sanie crop, improve 

 the condition of his farm, and by reducing the loss from weeds, 

 diseases, and insect attacks increase the yields of all the crops grown 

 so as to make the net returns from his farm equal to or greater than 

 those obtainable from continuous cropping to wheat. 



It is probable that most of the results mentioned may be obtained 

 by adopting a proper system of crop rotation. The value of the 

 results so obtained and the best method of obtaining them depend 

 largely upon local conditions of soil and climate, the market prices 

 for grain and live stock, and frequently upon various other condi- 

 tions more or less local or individual in their nature. Such being 

 the case, each farmer must necessarily depend largely upon his own 

 judgment and knowledge of these conditions in deciding how best 

 to accomplish the desired results. 



The discussion of the results of these investigations will, therefore, 

 be confined mainly to showing what may reasonably be expected 

 from increased yields due directly to crop rotation as compared with 

 continuous cropping. 



Table V has been prepared by using the same values per bushel 

 as in Table IV and the yields from continuous cropping by ordinary 

 methods at each of the stations as a basis. The figures given in the 

 table in the column headed " Average for wheat and oats" have 

 been used as a basis of comparison with rotations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 

 and 9 in Tables XXII and XXIII. The figures in column headed 

 "Average for barley and oats " have been used as a basis of comparison 

 with rotations 6 and 7 in the same tables. The figures given in the 



187 



