230 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



his past failures and his past triumphs decide his future? 

 If he be a dairy farmer, ought he not by practical tests to 

 settle for himself not only what crops are most at home 

 on his land but also what crops in his circumstances yield 

 him the largest returns in milk and butter ? If swine rais- 

 ing be his business, how long ought he to guess what crop 

 on his land yields him the greatest amount of hog food ? 

 Should a colt be fed on one kind of forage when the land 

 that produced that forage would produce twice as much 

 equally good forage of another kind ? All these questions 

 the prudent farmer should answer promptly and in the light 

 of wise experiments. 



3. Crops that will give us most protein. It is the 

 farmer's business to grow all the grass and forage that his 

 farm animals need. He ought never to be obliged to pur- 

 chase a bale of forage. Moreover, he should grow mainly 

 those kinds of crops that are rich in protein materials, such 

 for example as cowpeas, alfalfa, and clover. If these kinds 

 of crops are produced on the farm, there will be little need 

 of buying cotton-seed meal, corn, and bran, for feeding 

 purposes. 



4. Crops that produce the most. We often call a crop 

 a crop without considering how much it yields. This is 

 a mistake. We ought to grow, when we have choice of 

 two, the one that is the best and most productive. Corn, 

 for instance, yields at least twice the quantity of feeding 

 material an acre that timothy does. 



5. Crops that will keep our soil in best condition. A 

 good farmer should always be thinking of improving his 

 soil. He wants his land to support him, and to maintain 

 his children after he is dead. 



