236 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



of the staple crops. Hence our interest is primarily with this 

 branch of the industry. 



While the geographical and market conditions will often pre- 

 scribe the principal crop to be grown on each farm, it is not so 

 simple a matter as may appear at first sight. The soil of a cer- 

 tain farm may be admirably adapted to the growing of wheat 

 or beef, but those products can also be successfully grown in 

 regions very remote from markets. If this particular farm is to 

 be devoted to either of these crops, it will have to compete with 

 vast areas of land well suited to their production and not well 

 suited to other crops which require less land and more labor, 

 and which do not stand transportation so well. If, therefore, this 

 particular piece of land is also well suited to some of these 

 other purposes, to the growing of corn, cotton, potatoes, milk, 

 or garden crops, products which have to be grown in narrower 

 areas or nearer the markets, it is not only more profitable 

 to the farmer, but more economical of the nation's resources, 

 to have it devoted to some of these purposes. 



It is seldom, however, either profitable for the farmer himself, 

 or economical for the nation, to have a farm devoted exclusively 

 to the production of a single crop. Only in rare exceptions, 

 where an agricultural specialty of high value is grown, and 

 where considerable money can be spent for manures and fertil- 

 izers, is this profitable. Diversification of crops is and must be 

 the rule for the vast majority of farms. 



Reasons for diversification. There are three main reasons for 

 this, though doubtless a multitude of minor ones could be named. 

 In the first place, every crop has its enemies, and these tend 

 to multiply if the land is continually planted to the same crop. 

 The enemies of one crop are not necessarily the enemies of 

 another, though they are sometimes. By changing the crop 

 every year the special enemies of each crop are held in check, 

 even if they are not starved out altogether. According to one 



