108 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



good business man as well as a good agriculturist. 

 Farm crops are produced for use at home or on the 

 farm ; for sale in the market of the home town that 

 can be reached direct by the farmer's wagon ; for 

 shipment to some distant market requiring the use of 

 railroad or water transportation ; or for export to 

 some foreign market. 



It should be the first duty of everj^ farmer to see 

 that his home table is always abundantly supplied 

 with all the food products that can be produced in 

 his neighborhood. No one is so favorably situated 

 for living well as the farmer. With only slight ad- 

 ditional effort and expense he can always have the 

 best and freshest of fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, 

 and butter. Those who live in towns know how ex- 

 pensive it is to keep their tables supplied with these 

 products and how difficult or often impossible it is to 

 get them in really fresh appetizing condition. Yet 

 how many farmers there are who fail to avail them- 

 selves of this, which is one of their greatest privileges, 

 but spend their hard-earned money for buying from the 

 groceries inferior foods that have been shipped in from 

 some neighboring city market. Such a condition is 

 almost unbelievable, but it is so common as to be the 

 rule rather than the exception. It will be a great 

 day for the average health and prosperity of the 

 country when every farmer realizes that the crops 

 consumed on his home table are the most profitable 

 ones he can grow and when each takes a pride in 

 seeing how near he can come to "living at home." 

 Other crops that are consumed on the farm are, of 

 course, mostly the grain and forage fed to animals. 



