GROUP OF LIGHT SANDS AND FINE SANDS 
51 
A three, four, or five year rotation may be followed. If but 
little stock is kept, a three year rotation consisting of a cultivated 
crop of corn or potatoes followed by rye or oats and clover the 
third year works well. The second crop of clover should be 
plowed under. If manure is scarce, acid phosphate and potash 
must be applied in addition to green manuring crops to keep up 
the fertility of sandy soils. If considerable stock is kept the 
rotation can be increased to four years using the clover field 
one year for pasture before plowing up. The manure applied 
in the winter or early spring of the year the clover is pastured 
increases the value of the pasture and benefits the next crop. 
The silo should be used to supplement pasture on sandy soil. 
In a five year rotation alfalfa, may be introduced, but this 
requires that considerable stock be kept, since none of the alfalfa 
should be sold. The field should be left in alfalfa for three years 
with two years given to cultivated crops and grain. Manure 
should be applied to the cultivated crop and also to the first year 
of alfalfa. This system is very desirable except that it does not 
provide any pasture. To overcome this the farm may be divided 
and both the four and the five year rotation practiced. Alfalfa 
may also be grown by itself and kept on the same field year after 
year, in which case its place in the rotation should be filled by 
clover. When the alfalfa begins to run out, the field should be 
reseeded. 
In the cultivation of the sandy soils fall plowing for rye, and 
spring plowing for all other crops, is the usual practice. The 
seed bed should be prepared to a depth of at least 8 inches and 
organic matter should be worked in deeply as well as near the 
surface to increase the water-holding capacity and to induce a 
deeper development of the roots. When the land is plowed in 
the spring it is often advisable to pack the soil with a roller, but 
this should be followed by a light harrow to secure a mulch on 
the surface. Where the fields are exposed, and the soil is blown 
by the wind, an effort should be made to prevent damage from 
this source. The most effective plan is to lay out the land in 
long narrow fields so as to have crops that cover the ground in 
the early spring, such as clover and rye, alternate with the culti¬ 
vated ground. 
With the successful growing of clover and possibly alfalfa, 
the dairy industry may be developed to a much greater extent 
than at present. By plowing under a crop of clover every few 
