Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-10-31
ROTATION OF cRoPs.
IL Aus Materially In Keeping the Supply
nj fiant Food I'm the Soil.

notAItON OF CROPS.
It Aids Materially In Kee,,r~ En-. sr,
Oh Rant Food In the Soil.
Different plants require different ele-
ments OF plant growth. Some varie-
ties OF plants will make a thrifty
growth where other varieties would
starve, or at least the growth and yield
would not be profitable If the same
crops are grown continuously on the
same land. even with liberal manuring,
there Is almost certain to be an excess
oi some OF the elements of plant food,
as each variety will use only the pro-
portion it needs, while the rest will! be
left; and with farm manure. at least
nearly or quite all the elements of
nutrition will be supplied if a good
application of well-rotted manure is
given.
buckwheat and rye can be grown on
SOILS SO poor that very few other crops
will hold thrifty growth. Clover is
largely relied upon to restore the fer
tllty OF d worn-out soil, but either of
them can be grown in soil too def
Client In the elements of plant food for
clover to make good growth. One of
the great advantages of clover. when a
good growth can be secured. is that it
not only supplies a considerable guam
tity of fertilizing material in itself. but
so acts on the soil as to make available
plant food that is already in the soil.
In planning a rotation one crop
should follow another that as far as
possible uses different elements of
plant food. While there is quite a
number of different elements of plant
growth, there are three-nitrogen,
phosphoric acid and potash-that are
the principal ones, and in supplying
these sufficient quantity of the others
is usually secured.
Some plants use larger proportion
OF nitrogen. others of phosphoric acid,
while potash is a necessary element
with others. Very few of the leading
crops use either of these in the same
proportion, and if the best result from
rotation is secured, it will be found
an item to arrange the crops so that
those that use different elements can
follow. Where one crop is raised con-
tlnuously manures Or fertilizers are
used to keep up the fertility; if too
long continued there is almost certain
to be an excess of other elements
Hence after corn has been raised con-
tinuously until the land will not grow
good crops of this cereal, wheat or oats
may be sown and very profitable
crop may be grown.
Very few plants, even if fed out to
stock and the manure applied back to
the soil. will return the elements in
the same proportion as they took up.
1t is possible by using commercial
manures to apply the elements that are
deficient, and in doing this get good
results at q low cost. Yet it can hard
ly be said that it is safe to rely upon
commercial fertilizers, either to keep
up the fertility or to give good crops
Some varieties of plants thrive best in
new land, while better crops of others
can be made after two Or three crops
of other plants have been grown. So
that it is quite an item to understand
the character of the soil and then
determine the treatment. A rotation.
if properly managed, will not prove so
exhausting to the soil even if no ma
nure or fertilizer is applied. And
where care is taken to feed out the
products to the stock, to make. save
and apply all the manure possible, to
use green manure at every favorable
opportunity. A good plan of rotation
will aid materially in building up the
supply of available plant food in the
soil. With heavy manuring it is pos
sible to grow large crops of the same
kind upon the same land. but the ex-
pense of manuring is always more
than where a rotation is followed from
the start With few special crops
this plan will be advisable, but gen.
orally the better plan of management
is to plan out a system of rotation.
using such crops as are best adapted to
the character of the soil and the local.
ity, and then following it as closely as
circumstances will admit, lessening in
this way the drain upon the soil and
rendering it more possible to be kept
in good state of fertility. Louis
Republic.