The Little River news., 1916-11-22
SOILS AND SOIL FERTILITY
No. 6. Rotation of Crops.

which success or failure depends to a greater extent than the method of cropping the land Experiments which have been carried upon tie oldest eX- pertinent stations have shown conclu- sively that croppins practices bear Q very definite relation to the way the soil fertility is maintained
 As result of sixty years work at the Rothamstead Station, England, wheat in good rotation gave nearly double the yield per acre as was ob- i tained from the same crop when grown continuously on the same land. The yields under continuous culture have fallen off most rapidly during the first few years of the experiment. During the last fifty years the falling off under continuous culture has been comparatively little, and has now reached a stage at which it may be maintained regularly. The expert ments in America, though conducted for shorter periods, tend toward the same results. At the Illinois station, after ten years continuous culture, corn yielded thirty-fve bushels per acre. Rotating corn with oats and legumes gave yield of siXtyfve bushels of corn per acre.
 These figures are of extreme impor- tance when it is considered that cot ton is grown continuously on the same land in Arkansas, and present low yields, in a large measure, can be at tributed to this factor. Experience has shown that no nation, state or community can maintain prosper ous agriculture without maintaining soil fertility.
 There are many reasons why the yields of crop grown con- tinuously upon the same land decline. In the first place, where a certain crop is grown continuously, the roots appear to be adapted to the absorp- tion of certain limited forms of plant food. In a few years the amount of this plant food available becomes re- duced and yields decline. Again, under continuous cropping the fungus diseases which trouble the crop are able to multiply until they become a serious factor in reducing yields. Cotton wilt becomes serious lhenace under such conditions. Likewise va, rious experiments in the cotton belt under boil veevil conditions have shown less damage done by the boll weevil where cotton was not preceded by cotton.
 A good rotation is easily planned by studying the characteristics, feeding habits, and effects upon the soil of different kinds of crops. A review of the staple field crops will show that these may be diviGed into general groups for the purpose of studying and planning systems of rotation.
 l. Cultivated crcps, such as cotton corn and sorghum, when planted to allow for inter-tillage, have similar effects in rotation. 4 cultivated crop is beneficial because of the cleaning effect it has upon most weeds. It is also an advantage in aerating and pulverizing the soil, thus aiding plant food to become available This advantage becomes a disadvan tage when such crops are grown con tinuously on the same field.
 ?. Pasture and meadow crops, acll ed humus crops, are of considerable importance in maintaining the supply 1 of organic matter. During the time such crops occupy the land turf 0; roots and stems is developed which fills the surface soil with vegetable matter. When such a soil is broken | the turf of roots and stems is mixed gives it a loamy, friable nature not secured with grain or cultivated crops unless farm manure is added heavily
 3. Green manure crops are those grown for the purpose of producing organic matter that can be plOwed un same way as the meadow crops When these crops are legumes, the nitrogen supply is rapidly restored.
 4. Cover crops are those grown fol the particular purpose of covering the land at those seasons of the year wher
 
 uble plant food lost by teaching.
 5. Small grain crops, such as oats wheat, barley and rye can be used t( good advantage in producing foot stuffs for tho farm. Such crops seed ed in the fall can serve the double purpose of winter cover crop ant hay, grain or green manure crop.
 A good rotation will consist of tht judicious attenuation of the above groups of crops. The warm winter! end the humid conditions which pre- vail in Arkansas require the growing of winter cover crops and the turning under of green manure crops. In { general way, a good type of rotation will be as follows; One or two yoarl of cultivated crops (coyer crops plant ed in the falD, the next year snnaf grain crop followed by cowpsas au(