Successful farming : a ready reference on all phases of agriculture for farmers of the United States and Canada . seases;(5) provides for the economical destruction of weeds; (6) maintains cropyields; (7) distributes the labor of men and horses; (8) saves labor incultivation of land; (9) keeps the soil occupied; (10) provides for a (166) THE ROTATION OF CROPS 167 balanced removal of plant food; (11) systematizes farming; and (12) maycontrol toxic substances. Maintain Good Physical Condition of Soil.—Deep-rooted plants,such as alfalfa and the clovers, improve the physical condition of thesubsoi
Successful farming : a ready reference on all phases of agriculture for farmers of the United States and Canada . seases;(5) provides for the economical destruction of weeds; (6) maintains cropyields; (7) distributes the labor of men and horses; (8) saves labor incultivation of land; (9) keeps the soil occupied; (10) provides for a (166) THE ROTATION OF CROPS 167 balanced removal of plant food; (11) systematizes farming; and (12) maycontrol toxic substances. Maintain Good Physical Condition of Soil.—Deep-rooted plants,such as alfalfa and the clovers, improve the physical condition of thesubsoil as a result of root penetration. The cultivation given to inter-tilled crops, such as corn, potatoes, beets and the truck crops, improvesthe physical condition of the surface soil. Such frequent cultivation maytend to reduce the organic matter of the soil, but this will be largely over-come by the stubble and roots of the grasses and clovers that follow thegrain crops. Conserve Organic Matter and Nitrogen.—Extensive rotation experi-ments at the Minnesota Experiment Station show that standard rotations,. Dangers of Continuous On the left is corn growing on land that has grown corn continuously for19 years. On the right is corn in a five-year rotation. Both fields wereplanted on the same day to the same kind of corn. The }ield on the fieldto the left is bushels to the acre. The field on the right gives an acre. These are the average yields for ten years. which include an inter-tilled crop, small grains and grasses with clover,all gave net profits. A four-years rotation of millet, barley, corn and oatswas no better than four years of continuous growing of wheat. All ofthese are classified as exhaustive crops. They cause a reduction in boththe organic matter and nitrogen supply of the soil. Land croppedcontinuously to wheat, corn, potatoes or mangels for a period of ten years,showed a loss of 1100 pounds of nitrogen and 20,000 pounds of carbonper a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
