CROP ROTATIONS

CROP ROTATIONS

_ €xtracts from various agricultural bulletins published by the Dominion and Provincial
. Departments of Agriculture.
For further information on this subject write to your nearest Agricultural College
or Experimental Farm. A list of these is given in Farm News Sheet No. 46.

ISSUED BY

EATON’S FARM NEWS SERVICE
WINNIPEG, CANADA

~ Three farm practices are mainly responsible for keeping up the fertility of the soil:
1, cultivation of the soil; 2, rotation of crops; 3, the use of fertilizers. It is evident that
practices which were profitable in the early days of settlement and soil mining are not
going to be profitable in the time to come.

Much work has been done by the experimental farms and stations and the agricul:
tural colleges in evolving suitable crop rotations for the various farming districts of
Western Canada. Splendid results have been achieved, and many farmers are today
getting better crop yields by following a good system of crop rotation.

5
A

No hard and fast rules can be set down, as every district and every farm presents an

individual problem.
Some crop rotations which are giving promising results are here listed.

ROTATIONS AT THE EXPERIMENTAL STATION, LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA
Taken from the Annual Report of the Superintendent for the year 1925
Two types of farming are carried on at this farm: dry farming and irrigation farming..
CROP ROTATIONS ON DRY LAND

Rotation B, 2 years’ duration: 1st year, summerfallow; 2nd year, wheat. Shows.
average profit over 14 years of $2.04 per acre.

Rotation C, 3 years’ duration: 1st year, summerfallow; 2nd year, wheat; 3rd year,
wheat (was oats for ten years). Shows an average profit over 14 years of $4. 29 per acre,

Rotation M, 6 years’ duration: 1st year, summerfallow; 2nd year, Winter wheat;
3rd year, oats; ‘4th year, summerfallow; 5th year, peas and oats; 6th year, oats. The
peas and oats ‘have shown an average loss over 14 years of 32 cents per acre, but the
average net profit shown by this rotation over 14 years is $1.74 an acre.

In dry farming the most difficult problem in working out satisfactory rotations is
the growing of a grass, or legume hay, or pasture crop to replenish the fibre of the soil.

: ROTATIONS ON IRRIGATED LAND
-. Rotation U, 10 years’ duration: 1st six years, alfalfa; 7th year, wheat; 8th year, oats;
9th year, sugar beets (was potatoes for 11 years); 10th year, barley. This rotation
shows an average profit over 14 years of $37.45 an acre.
Rotation X, 15 years’ duration: 1st ten years, alfalfa; 11th year, barley; 12th year,
corn; 13th year, wheat; 14th year, oats; 15th year, peas. The corn showed an average
loss over 14 years of 29 cents an acre, but the average net profit shown by the rotation
over 14 years is $14.07 an acre.

ROTATIONS AT THE EXPERIMENTAL STATION, LACOMBE, ALBERTA
Taken from the Annual Report of the Superintendent for the Year 1924

Rotation K, 6 years’ duration: 1st year, corn; 2nd year, wheat; 8rd year, barley;
4th year, hay; 5th year and 6th year, hay. Has shown an average profit of $4.21 an acre
over a period of 11 years. A suitable rotation for a livestock farm in the park district
of Alberta. |

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