PRACTICAL CROP ROTATION IS PROFITABLE 
Nature shows man the way in her reforestation growth. An oak forest is usually 
followed with pine trees and, should the land be cleared again, oaks or white birches will 
take their place. 
Application of practical rotation plans proven over a period of years should be without question 
the effort of every thinking farmer. 
Here are some of the benefits incidental to the interchange of crops. 
a. Only by rotating can all of the various soil plant foods be fully utilized. 
b. Varying root systems of dissimilar crops penetrate the soil layers and extract otherwise unobtainable and hidden 
plant food reserves. 
c. Improved soil texture by adding humus values through the plowing under of roots and stubble and root pene¬ 
tration beyond that of plow depth. 
d. Introduces, as in the case of legumes, a nitrogen fertilizing value that restores to the soil this needed plant food 
element. 
e. Weeds are either discouraged or eliminated according to the thoroughness of its practice, with insect pests and 
soil diseases reduced. 
f. Rotation assures top yields and a succession of money crops not possible with fertilizer alone. 
Study your rotation problem according to the varying conditions on your farm and 
remember these main stages of the operation. It helps you to determine particularly 
those soils favoring certain main crops. 
1. Rotation should contain the most profitable crop as many years as it is practical. 
2. Include at least one green crop to improve the soil (Clovers). 
3. Choose crops of varying root depths. 
4. A “cleaner” or cultivated crop is necessary to control weeds. 
One of the most perfect rotation systems in use today is the noted English “Norfolk 
System” which is, namely: 
Turnips — Barley — Clovers and Mixed Grasses — Wheat. (For this country, Corn would 
be substituted for Turnip with the alternatives, if desired, of Oats for Barley and Rye for Wheat.) 
Through such a rotation, the cuttings of Clovers and mixed grasses, if extended over a two or 
three year period, which is often done, keeps one-half the farm supplied with hay. 
For Dairy Use, a popular rotation that has been widely used in the United States is, 
namely: 
Potatoes one year — Corn two years — Grass and Clovers three years. 
This program gives a supply of green feed interrupted every three years by the “cleansing” 
crop employing Potatoes or Corn. 
In addition to the above main crop rotations those of catch and cover crops play a 
most important part for feed and green manuring purposes. Their employment cuts the 
average fertilizer bill in half. 
Catch crops — to be grown between the harvest of a money making crop and the planting of 
another one: 
Millets — Sudan Grass — Barley — Buckwheat. 
Crimson Clover — White Sweet Clover — Soy Beans. 
Now, for a cover crop to be planted for the same purpose of feed or fertilizer and to go through 
the winter, the following grains and grasses are most popular: 
Winter Wheat — Winter Rye — Winter Vetch. 
All this known information may seem elemental to many of our readers, yet its im¬ 
portance to successful agriculture we feel cannot be over-emphasized. 
We welcome at all times new and successful crop rotation schedules, not only for our own in¬ 
formation but to hand on to our many farmer friends who write us frequently regarding their stub¬ 
born soil conditions. 
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