our people have to do is to cover less ground, cultivate 

 smaller farms so as to make the most of them, instead 

 of getting a scant and uncertain yield from several 

 hundred acres, and raise productivity by intelligent 

 treatment to twice or three times its present level 



There is more money in this system. The net 

 profit from an acre of wheat on run-down soils is very 

 small; consequently decreasing the acreage of wheat 

 under certain conditions will not materially decrease 

 profits. Here are some reliable estimates. The price 

 of wheat is given from the United States Department 

 of Agriculture Yearbook, average for ten years: 



lM C of 

 YM4. Prk,. 



20 $0.638 $12.76 sr.s, +$4.87 



l6 $10. J I +$-' 



12 " $7.66 $0.23 



10 $6.38 -$1.51 



8 " $5.10 -$2.79 



From the above table it will be seen that as large a 

 net profit is realized from one crop of 20 bushels per 

 acre as from two crops of 16 bushels; and that a 12- 

 bushel crop or less yields a net loss. It is a safe con- 

 dition that 75 acres of land, growing a crop of clover 

 every fourth year, will yield a larger net profit than 

 will 100 acres sown to grain continually. A small 6eM 

 of eight acres of clover in the Red River Valley last 

 year yielded 42 bushels, worth over $60 per acre from 

 the sale of seed. 



I have dwelt upon the conservation of farm re- 



17 



