The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-11-11

continuously, and 1t may be brought
about by very little planning. and
without very seriously changing the
acreage devoted to each crop. Most
farms in the middle west have from
| one-eighth to one-half their tillable
area in corn, and from one-eighth to
one-half in grass each year. All the
| change that is necessary Is to arrange
these crops according to some regu-
lar system of rotation instead of grow
ing each on the same field year after
year.
few people hesitate to begin the
rotation Of crops because they have
the idea that 1t necessitates dividing
the farm into small fields 1t is true
that a certain number of fields are
necessary to carry out a rotation. 1t
is also true that on the average farm
a good rotation will provide fewer
fields and better shaped fields than
are used at present under the less
definite systems of cropping.
Experiments at the Minnesota Ag-
ricultural college farm have estab-
| lished the following facts regarding
crop rotation:
There is choice even among good
| rotation schemes. In these expert
ments all those cropping systems
gave large net profits in which corn,
small grains, timothy and clover sod
laid for one to four years, were ar
ranged in a four to seven-year rota-
ton, with light manuring once during
| The course.
The standard five-year rotation is:
First year, corn. following the appli-
| cation of eight tons of manure per
acre; second year, wheat; third and
fourth years, meadow; fifth year, oats.
This rotation has given an average
| gross income per year, based on aver
age farm prices, of $14.0S The cost
of production, including $3.50 land
rental is $9.05, leaving a net annual
! income of $500 per acre.
Several other rotation schemes were
even more profitable than the one
used for a Standard while crops
| grown continuously and crops not
properly arranged in the rotation were
less profitable or even resulted in a
loss.
Many farmers would profit were
they to practice systems of cropping
which include the alienation of grain
crops, grass crops as clover and tim
| othy sown together, and cultivated
crops arranged in any rotation scheme
best suited to their conditions.
/ ANY syster4s of cropping that have
provided for the maintenance of a
supply of vegetable matter in the
soil, either by manuring or by grow
| ing pasture or meadow crops, have
given profitable returns.
The plots which have grown cul-
tivated crops, such as corn, potatoes
and mangels, continuously without
manure, have given poorer returns
than have the plots which have grown
grain continuously without manure.
This is believed to be due to the fact
that the intertillage given these crops
has caused more rapid depletion of
! vegetable matter than has taken place
in the continuous grain fields.
The four-year rotation: First year,
millet; second year, barley; third
year, corn; fourth year, oats, gave no
better returns than did the plot on
which wheat was grown continuously.
All of the crops in this rotation are
considered exhaustive crops, as they
all decrease rather than increase the
supply of vegetable matter in the soil
The practice OF sowing grass seed
with. the grain on corn land that is
disced in the spring in place of fall
| blowing, has resulted in securing a
| grass stand in nearly every instance
1t has proved to be the surest method
of obtaining a grass stand of any
| tried at the Minnesota university
| farm.
ANDREW BOSS. AgricuIturist
Rush 'Em.-Force the chicks along
by keeping before them in self-feeders
| a good, dry mash composed of 200