Yield, dollar value and amount of smoking tobacco produced under various sod rotations and continuous culture during the
8·year period 1946-53
Value dollars Percent smokingl s
Treat- Yield per Per Per High
ment” Sod or cover crop acre, lb acre cwt. Total quality _ A
Continuous culture `
1 Barley and vetch: 100 lb nitrogen ................................... . ........ 1884 971 51.53 80 22
2 Barley and vetch: 50 lb nitrogen ..................................i........... 1747 913 52.26 79 19 It
3 Barley: 50 lb nitrogen ......................................................,......... 1443 748 51.83 86 22 7
4 Barley: 100 lb nitrogen .............................................,.............. 1776 933 52.53 78 27 V
2 year rotation: (1) tobacco (2) sod l
5 Sweet clover, limed .......................................,.............,.............. 1869 1031 55.17 83 32 ,$
6 Barley cover crop (clipped), redtop, red clover, and A
Korean lespedeza sod .......................,.......................... . ............. 1697 965 56.87 92 25
7 Barley harvested for grain, redtop, red clover, and 4
Korean lespedeza sod ................................................................ 1655 929 56.10 91 34 7 ,
8 Barley harvested for grain, plowed in fall, and
crimson clover and winter vetch seeded .................................. 1633 900 55.08 79 30 8
FI year rotation: (l) tobacco (2 and 3) sod L
9 Orchard grass and red clover .................................................... 1700 920 54.14 89 25 1
I0 Orchard grass and red clover: 50 lb nitrogen per acre ,......... 1887 1054 55.84 90 35 l'
ll Orchard grass and red clover, limed ........................................ 1706 930 54.52 89 24 _
I2 Alfalfa cnt for hay, limed .......................................................... 1812 983 54.26 81 30 E
13 Bluegrass and alfalfa, limed ...................................................... 1651 909 55.03 92 31 V
14 Sweet clover, limed .................................................................... 1666 908 54.50 92 25 '<
4 year rotation: (I) Tobacco, (2, 3 and 4) sod _
I5 Orchard grass and red clover 4-year rotation .......................... 1757 959 54.61 90 33  
Old sod-Bluegrass sod 60 years old. No fertilizer "
16 Bluegrass sod, 60 years old, no fertilizer .................................. 2104 1237 58.80 97 52 ;t V
if 7 'iSmoking tobacco is that grading L, F or FR in color; high quality is the percent of the total crop that grades trash or lugs of the first three qualities (
uml   pounds ol sulfate of potash broadcast and disked in after plowing for tobacco except treatment 12 which received potasln equal i,
to that taken off in the alfalfa hay plus that received by the other treatments, and treatment 16 which received no fertilizer. Produced on Maury silt loam
soil. \Vln-rc soils are low in available phosphorus this element must be added.  
·l
using a tobacto-sod rotation it is necessary to lime in Alfalfa in rotation it
order to maintain proper stands of legumes; however, yxltttlfa was tested as Et Crop ttrhich might be used in
I/re liming muy! not he oeerrlolze. .·\ total ol 5 tons per R tnlmctp i·OtatlOn_ lt has long been thought that
acre was applied to the limed plots in these experi- but-ley tnpatpn tnnltl not be produced SatjS[at;tOt—jh·
ltl(‘IltS during the period lflflel-54, with never more lnllotilng _,tllalla_ ln these expel-ltnentsy hO“·€\·€i~, lt tv
than l ton being applied per round of the rotation. was lnnntl that il land is nOt Oyptclnncd in ptcpata.
Sweet tlotcr, one of our best soil-building crops, was tlnn lm- alf_;tll`;t, and if enough potassiuni is applied g
used in trcsc studies in both a 2-year and a 3»vear c » -— t _- V :·
rotation. lllct yield pf tobaccolinl the 3-ytear l`Otll1lOll 211-€ll;ii1t_[h\irh(;i?;(igh;l?;,tilzsaltfglitziitgggluix guiglitlii t
(treatment -) was owcr, ant tre tota amount o t ‘ ·‘ · ·· · Y ·‘ l'
smoking tobacco produted was slightly less than in ;;ilt;t(iiit`lll;(ltlt;l`ll?§t—l1;i·ai5;tl;aé;,;;5€(;lnii)ltli1€a;]fiilgalgfiigl
lll(` g·)'(`ill` l`Olilll(')ll (ll`(`iIllll(`lll   il7ll€ 2Il110lll'l[ Oli t)li€(l all tl]€ nitrogen (treatment   \r\Th€t·€ blue. *
l‘l9l"‘l“*‘lll}` "’l’*""" **1*** Wilt ¥"C?'l€*l in *06 2‘}'€¥l" grass was included with the alfalfa (treatment I3), b
rotation. Sintc, in thc Zi-year rotation, there is no the tttcltl and tlnllttt t-ctntn ppt- ncl-C Wcte i—€tln(—€d ‘
tovcr crop on thc land the winter before thc tobacco $ntnéwlntt_ lntt thc tnnnnnt Ot Smoking tnhttptp was 7
crop, thcrc is some loss of nitrogen from leaching, lnt»t~CttS€tl_ K I
and as a result the tobacco runs out of nitrogen a
llttlt. tm, t.t,tl,-_ Rotations vs. continuous culture E ,
.»\n additional ycar (fl years) in grass was somewhat 'l`he 2-year rotations (treatments 5, 6. and 7) give
more cllcttiyc in thc production of high tlllilllty to- some indication of the value of a year in sod, as com- ,2
bacco than 2 years of grass (treatments I5 and 9). pared with continuous culture. The returns per acre ;
Howcvcr 2 ycars of grass plus 50 pounds of nitrogen were as great or greater than with continuous culture,
was more cffectiyc in thc production of smoking to- and the amount of smoking tobacco was greater. The ‘ ,
bacco than an additional year in sod (treatments l0 yields following treatments 6 and 7 were relatively
and I5). low, yet the value in dollars per hundred and as per- s
l0 Umvizasirv or Kmrrucxv t
S