Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/416

412 than others, a rotation tended to strike a balance. The actual amount of plant food removed from the soil by crops is infinitesimal, and usually a good rotation will remove more than single cropping. The losses of valuable ingredients from the soil by wind or washing are of more importance than those lost by the sale of crops.

The practical benefits from a rotation of crops are now recognized to be manifold, including greater ease in maintaining the soil in proper physical condition; greater opportunity for catching and retaining the water which falls upon the soil, and more economical use of it. Insects and diseases are more easily combatted, and increased vigor of the plants results in increased yield. In addition, labor, manures and fertilizers are more economically used with benefit to the farmer, farm and the nation.