188 Elementary Principles of Agriculture 



feeds should be counted against the value of the prod- 

 ucts. The value of a product is determined by its kind, 

 the supply offered at a given time, and the demand. 



261. Animal Husbandry is the natural companion 

 of crop farming. When the products of the fields and 

 meadows are removed fi;om the farm each year, there 

 is a continual loss of fertility, which leads to certain 

 poverty of the farm and farmer. When these are fed 

 to the stock on the farm much of the fertility in the 

 crops may be returned to the land. 



262. Stock Farming varies and distributes the farm- 

 er's labor. It gives him opportunity to work every day 

 in the year by which he may earn something for his 

 family. An all-grain crop or hay crop, or cotton crop, 

 etc., overtaxes the farm labor in one season and leaves 

 it in comparative idleness the next. Stock farming en- 

 courages system in rotation of crops, and thus tends 

 to maintain the land in a high state of productiveness. 



263. In Selecting Animals for the Farm, the farmer 

 should use just as good judgment as the manufacturer 

 does in buying machinery, for the stock is the machinery 

 that makes the crude products of the farm into salable 

 products. The machines used in manufacturing have 

 been greatly improved to cheapen production in special 

 lines. What shall be the character of the machines which 

 the farmer uses to convert his feeds into finished pro- 

 ducts? Shall it be the latest improved, by years of 

 breeding and selecting, to secure a breed that will give 

 a larger return of meat, butter, eggs, wool, etc., for 

 each pound of feed supplied? 



264. Many Animals Are Unsuited for the purpose 

 for which they are kept. The Illinois Agricultural 

 Experiment Station made individual records for a full 



