26 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



Suppose, now, a hog farm is located far enough south to make \nn- 

 ter pasture available, and that it is desired to produce 200-pound hogs. 

 Fall litters of pigs may be given pasture and grain during winter and 

 early summer, the grain being so apportioned as to cause the hogs to 

 reach the desired weight, say, by the 1st of July. Spring litters may 

 be given pasture and grain till autumn, and then penned and forced 

 rapidly to a weight of 200 pounds. In such a system, on a farm of a 

 given size, what acreage of winter pasture and of summer pasture 

 should be provided? Wliat pasture crops should be used? How 

 much grain should be fed? These are questions that can only be 

 answered by experience. We are able to make estimates that will 

 serve as approximate answers, but the experience of a considerable 

 number of farms is necessary before these estimates can be relied on. 



There are similar questions that need to be worked out in connec- 

 tion with nearly every type of farming for every section of the United 

 States. One of the most important reasons why detailed plans are 

 drawTi in this office for individual farms is, therefore, to enable us to 

 find valual^le material for the study of the possibilities of the various 

 types of farming. Among a large number of plans furnished, some 

 will result in the development of farms to their full possibilities. 

 Every such farm is an object lesson of great value. A large number 

 of such farms would furnish data for generalizations of inestimable 

 value. 



The number of distinct types of farming is large, and most farms 

 combine two or more of these types. Even farms of exactly the same 

 type — as, for instance, dairy farms that grow only roughage and buy 

 all the concentrates — may and do have widely different cropping sys- 

 tems. This is true even on contiguous farms of the same t}^e. This 

 field of research is therefore a wide one. It relates in a most vital 

 way to the development of the agricultural resources of the country. 

 If properly pursued it can not fail to result in the accumulation of a 

 vast number of important facts and principles which can be put into 

 pedagogical form and thus become an important subject of instruc- 

 tion in schools. 



In attempting to plan a cropping system to fit exactly the needs 

 of a farm, the objection may be raised that this is impossible because 

 of the great seasonal variation in yields. This objection overlooks 

 the fact that every farmer in the United States is actually compelled 

 to make such plans every year, whether they are feasible or not. 

 There can be no two answers to the question whether we shall attempt 

 to aid the farmer in this the most important work he has to do. If 

 agricultural science is of any value at all it must aid the farmer in 

 planning his work. With sufficient study, the ordinary fluctuations 

 in yields become known quantities, and allowances can be made for 

 them. When a farm is heavily stocked, it will occasionally occur 



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