It is not expected that the young farmer will be materially different from his hundreds of thousands of predecessors, but the better a man is trained and the more fully he studies his own adaptabilities and deficiencies, the more likely he is to succeed in the open country. For this reason, the young man should be careful to get as broad a training as possible. It is, therefore, often more important for him to study those things which he dislikes than to study the things for which he has a natural taste. There was a man in our town And he was wondrous wise. He knew that if he wanted crops He'd have to fertilize. "Its nitrogen that makes things green," Said this man of active brain; "And potash makes the good strong straw, And phosphate plumps the grain. But it's clearly wrong to waste plant food On a wet and soggy field; I'll surely have to put in drains If I'd increase the yield. "And after I have drained the land I must plow it deep all over; And even then I'll not succeed Unless it will grow clover. Now, acid soils will not produce A clover sod that's prime; So if I have a sour soil, I'll have to put on lime. "And after doing all these things, To make success more sure, I'll try my very best to keep From wasting the manure. So I'll drain, and lime, and cultivate, With all that that implies; And when I've done that thoroughly I'll manure and fertilize." _Vivian_ CHAPTER IX THE ROTATION OF CROPS The two essential reasons for a rotation of crops are: (1) The possibility of obtaining for the soil a supply of nitrogen from the air by introducing a legume at regular intervals, and (2) the prevention of injury to the crops from fungous diseases, insect enemies, weeds or other causes. Other reasons are often advanced, some of which are entirely erroneous, while others are of quite secondary importance. The rotation should be carefully studied with reference to the farm scheme as previously outlined. Reasons for modifying the rotations are: (1) To change the kind or proportion of crops grown, (2) to change the amount of labor required, or (3) to increase the crop-producing power of the soil.