The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-17


There is one great advantage in
adopting a rotation of crops upon ev-
cry farm that is not commonly con-
sidered, says the Farmers Review. We
refer to the system and discipline
crop rotation necessitates. Without
rotation farm operations are apt to be
conducted in hit or miss fashion. By
rotation everything is done in an or
derby manner and the owner knows
ahead exactly what work there will be
to do, where it will have to be done,
and when it should be best accomplish
ed. Another advantage is that utilza-
ton of manure made upon the farm is
much more uniform under rotation
than where no set plan is followed.
There will each year be the same area
to fertilize and if pains be taken to
fully cover a certain area each season
the entire farm will be kept in a fair
ly satisfactory state of productiveness.
Under the prevailing plan of no fixed
rotation manure, on the other hand,
is apt to be applied here and there
without system, upon bare knobs, in
patches, where most convenient, and
the farm is likely to enjoy a feast or
suffer a famine according to the sup
ply of manure on hand or the dispo-
sition of the farmer to spread it.
AS a general proposition, rotation of
crops is now necessary on every farm
that has long been reclaimed from the
virgin state. Stores of plant food have
been heavily drawn upon by success
SiVe growth and removal of crops;
greater areas than could be properly
manured have been cropped annually
for extended periods; weeds, given a
chance to grow and seed have render
ed much of the land foul; certain in
gradients of the soil, specially needed
by certain crops, have been exhausted;
other as necessary ingredients have
been little used; certain areas have
been made sick by successive growth
of one crop; sourness has become COM
mon by continued packing of the soil
and lack of drainage. 1t is time to
adopt a sensible plan of treating the
land fairly and returning something
for that removed. We have been
drawing heavily upon the bank ac-
count without attention to deposits
and in some instances, at least, the
account has been overdrawn.
In arranging a rotation of crops for
any farm it should be remembered
that one plan of rotation is not suit
able for every class of soil and all
conditions of climate and location. AS
general principle however it
should be the aim of a proper rota-
ton to keep the same crops a reason
able length of time apart; in other
words, corn, for instance, should not
Immediately succeed corn, nor oats
follow oats. In so deciding it is taken
into account that corn draws certain
elements from the soil not so much re-
quired by oats and that each crop has
its own requirements as regards plant
food. so that continued cropping with
the same crop depletes the stores of
its specially required plant food, while
rotation retards impoverishment, ball
ances the chances among different
crops, and allows replenishment of
stores to proceed gradually. To illus
trate how certain crops deprive land
of certain ingredients, let il be said
that turnips remove five times, beans
three times and oats twice as much
potash from the soil as wheat, while
oats require almost five times as much
lime as wheat. and barley takes TWEEN
ty-siX times the amount of silica from
land as an equivalent crop of wheat.
Plants also search for food different
ly. Barley feeds near the surface, as
does the pea; wheat, on the other
hand, goes deep down after its food.
one crop, therefore, may prepare the
soil for another; we may conclude, for
instance, that all legumes prepare soil
for wheat. When we grow wheat aft
Ct WHEAT lOI many SUCCESSIVE years
wheat food becomes scarce, but food
for other crops may be present in suf-
ficient quantities for profitable pro-
duction. Corn after corn gradually but
surely robs the soil OF corn food, and
so on with every crop grow on the
farm. Changing the crops upon the
same fields often enough. retards de-
pletion Of plant food and makes il
possible to produce greater yields of
each at less danger to the land.
AS nitrogen is perhaps the chief
plant food Of all crops and the one
most easily exhausted, rotation OF
| crops should keep in mind the re-
Punishment Of the soil with this most
valuable constituent. Science has
shown that clovers and all legumes
increase the soil stores OF nitrogen,
hence In every rotation clover should
form a frequent and abundant factor
| Glover growing also helps 10 clean land
of weeds, and this Is furthered by
clean corn culture This year the best
corn and that which will best avoid
| frost has been grown upon sod land