ROTATION OF CROPS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8, 7 May 1912, Page 3

ROTATION OF CROPS.

It is known that any crop will decrease in its productiveness if it is planted in the same piece of ground year after year. The reason for thin is apparent. The crop is taking out oi the, soil the same kind oi' food each year. This food is not put back at an equal rate,, with the result that Lhe sf-il is exhausted and is said to lie "sick." .For' instance, tur.nips take large quantities of potash, lime, phosphoric acid,, and sojta ' out of the ground. If turnips weije planted year after year,' %[ the samei piece of land these 'food , J ephstituentj;i would be all used up and 'the land rendered practically useless. A crop like barley, therefore, which requires less potash and lime, should be sowm-afctor.-.the. first crop of'turnips. Tltyjj'wrley should be land' the clover by wheat. Qth'er crops which use more of other kinds-of food 1 than those already mentioned may be planted subsequently with advantage. This change in the crops is generally known as "the rotation of crops," and there are many rotations in use. A favourite one is known as the modified Norfolk system, and is as follows: Turnips (or roots), barley, clover, wheat. The Cumberland system is: Oats, roots, wheat (or barley), clover, grass; and the South Lancashire system : Potatoes, wheat, barley, clover, "•rasa A sreat deal, however, <\vb""°' & ' ill pends upon the nature of the land. The rotation of crops is also of mechanical value to the soil. The land is ploughed deep for turnips and the rows planted sufficiently wide apart to permit the soil being continually stirred and the weeds grubbed while the crop is growing. Barley is not deep-rooted, while the clover—the third crop—sends its roots down deep, thus improving the texture of the soil. It is only by carrying on a proper rotation of'crops, by systematic farming, and by the judicious application of fertilisers, that the farm-ers-of this country will be able to keep up their heavy export of firstclass sheep and dairy produce and yet maintain the fertility of their land. A rotation frequently adopted in New Zealand is as follows: Wheat, turnips (sown in November), oats or barley, cultivated grasses or clover. A permanent pasture is thus established. Wh|n the cultivated grasses have to be renewed the same course is followed. There is one more effect that the rotation has, and that is, it reduces to a minimum the chances of attacks from blight. If the same crop were planted year after year, then there is every opportunity for the blight peculiar to that crop increasing, wVraas if the crop is changed, that blight will speedily disappear.