CROP ROTATION SPECIAL.
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A Farm and Home Weekly for the Carolinas, Virginia,
Georgia and Tennessee.
Vol. XXVII. No. 3. SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1912. Weekly : $1 a Year.
A Good Rotation Essential to GoMrming
MOST of the letters received from our readers for this issue
give considerable attention to the reasons for crop rotation.
Thf writprs spprh tn think it nprpssarv ir pvnlnin whv c rotation
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of crops is a good thing. The reasons given are good as a rule, and,
therefore, we are quite content to leave to our contributors the ex
planation of why a rotation
of prnresisfl wispthintrfnr thp F' Y . I ':-. -'r r"-5;
f" to v"
iarmer. We might advance
other reasons than those
they have given, but it seems
to us that it should be un
necessary. It is enough for
us to know that no one-crop
system of farming, or no
haphazard, unsystematic
planting of different crops,
has yet made a f ertile soil or
a rich community of farmers.
It may be that here and there
are little patches of landon
which, by reason of their
peculiar conditions, the same
crop can be grown year af
ter year with profit to the
farmer and without injury
to the soil; but the area of
such lands is so small as to
merit little consideration in
a broad view of the subject.
Taking any considerable
area, or any section as a
whole, the rule holds good
that a one-crop system of
farming is not profitable
or at least is less profitable
than farming in a good ro
tation. Nor does it state the whole
truth to say that farming in
a rotation is better than
a single-crop system. There
is between the two plans the difference between success and failure.
One system is wrong, the other is right. A properly planned rotation,
adapted to the farmer's individual needs and conditions and to the
land he tends, will almost surely result in a farm constantly getting
richer and in permanent and increasing prosperity for the farmer.
The sing'e-crop system will inevitably result in poorer soils, and
poorer soils have never yet made richer farmers.
It is just as well for you, Mr. Farmer, if you have not planned
your rotation and thus put your farming on a business basis,
to do so right now at this beginning of a new year. We cannot tell
you what rotation you should follow. In this issue will be found a
number, one or more of which will almost certainly be suited to your
conditions. The main thing is for you to get down and figure the
thing out as a plain business proposition for that is what it is. Decide
what crop you wish to make your main money crop. Decide, next, what
other crops you wish to grow to supplement this main crop. . In the
third place, find out just how many soil-improving crops you can grow
in connection with these sale crops,- and finally, arrange the whole list
in such order, as will enable you best to care for each crop in its turn
and to give yourself, your hired help and your work stock the most
constant and profitable employment throughout the year. Not until
you have done this can you claim to have placed your farm work on
a business basis.
If you have been devoting too much attention to cotton, or tobacco,
or corn, or any other crop, right now is the timeto,quit this bad habit
and to prepare to do the right sort of farming. It isnot the right sort
of farming, either, to try to change over in a single year' from one
crop to another or to cut out a crop just because it has been unprofit-
fee .!
I ,", .v'- - H- - 1
SUCH BARNS AND WORK STOCK ARE FOUND ONLY WHERE PLENTY OF FEED CROPS ARE GROWN.
able for a year or two. This kind of farming does not make pros
perous farmers or rich land. Plan your rotation and then stick to it.
Of course, minor changes will be necessary almost every year and
you may find after awhile that it will pay you to change gradually
from a three-year rotation to a four-year rotation, or vice versa, or
that you can substitute some
other crop for the one which
you have made your chief
reliance, but in all such cases
the change wants to be
made gradually and as a re
sult of a thorough study of
the whole business.
In short, a rotation means
a succession of crops planned
to run for a certain number
of years, and a good rotation
means such a succession of
crops as will enable the
farmer to get a profit on all,
or nearly all, of them and at
the same time to increase
the productive capacity of
his land and to utilize all his
resources in the way of land,
labor and executive ability.
And remember that it is not
a mere matter of choice
whether you rotate your
crops or not; but that a well
planned rotation is one of
the first essentials of good
farming the basis upon
which any enduring struc
ture of agricultural pros
perity must be built.
Surely no cotton farmer
will this year be guilty of
the folly of trusting for ev
ervthing to a single crop,
and it is just as unwise for a
tobacco or 'a grain farmer to do this as it is for a cotton farmer.
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
A POOR LAND ROTATION How Clarendon Davis Built Up nis
Land . A 7
DON'T CULTIVATE POOR LAND And Don't Do Unnecessary Work 11
GOVERNMENT-OWNED TELEGRAPHS Why They Are Desira
ble 15
HOME-MADE BREAKFAST CEREAL Prof. H. H. Hume Tells of
a Good One . .. 13
HOW TO FIGHT CUT-WORMS Value of Early Plowing . 21
KEEP STOCK OFF RARE LANDS They Will Surely Do Harm. . 3
OLEOMARGARINE ON ITS MERITS This is All Farmers Ask. . 1G
OUR PRIZE LETTERS Four of Them, All Full of Suggestions . . 8
PRACTICAL ROTATIONS FOR SOUTHERN FARMS A Helpful
List by Director Morgan. ' T 5
PROMOTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH One of the Great Duties
of Our Day 11
READ DICKENS THIS WINTER---Not to Know His Men and
Women is to Miss Much 13
ROTATIONS FOR THE PEANUT BELT Special Problems of This
Section v. . . . . 22
ROTATION FOR TOBACCO LANDS How to Keep Up the Humus
Supply 4
ROTATION TO INCREASE COTTON PROFITS Why It is Nec
essary fl
SPRING OATS When to Sow and How to Fertilize 3