XIII 



THE FARMER'S MARKET 



IT is important that crops should be grown, and in a 

 profitable manner. The good farmer not only in- 

 creases from year to year the magnitude of his crop, 

 but leaves to his heir a more fertile field than he found. 

 Any system of agriculture, which leaves an impover- 

 ished field, is essentially immoral as well as unprofit- 

 able. A farmer not only needs food and clothing for 

 himself and family, but he of necessity must sell a cer- 

 tain portion of his products. Taxes are to be paid, 

 improvements made, articles not grown on the farm 

 purchased, and something put by for a rainy day. 



Theoretically a farmer should sell those things which 

 do not carry off with them the fertility of the soil. 

 Ideal things to be sold are cotton, butter and sugar. 

 These agricultural products do not carry with them 

 any appreciable quantity of plant food. A farmer 

 might sell a million tons of sugar and not carry a ton 

 of plant food away from his farm. He can do almost 

 as well selling cotton and butter. On the other hand, 

 when he sells milk, wheat, Indian corn and hay, or 

 when he drives away from his farm flocks and herds, 

 he carries away large quantities of potash, phosphorus 

 and nitrogen. In other words he sells plant foods, and 

 these have to be restored to the soil in some form or 

 other. 



It is not quite possible for farmers to sell only the 



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