FARM MANAGEMENT 297 



places where grain farming might be combined profitably 

 with stock farming. 



The business disadvantage of crop farming, as compared 

 with stock farming, may be seen by comparing the labor 

 income of the two. A farm-management survey of 273 

 farms in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, showed the following 

 result: The average labor income from 79 crop farms was 

 $28; that from 194 stock farms was $755. This difference 

 was exceptionally great because the price of corn was 

 low during the year Ihe survey was made. But an average 

 for a series of years will show that the chances for a large 

 labor income are against the crop farmer. There are two 

 reasons for this: One is the greater average profit on crops 

 when fed to stock; the other, the larger number of working 

 days of the stock farmer as compared with that of the crop 

 farmer. 



If crop farming is followed from year to year on the same 

 farm, it is absolutely essential that the organic matter of 

 the soil be kept up by supplying green manure from such 

 plants as rye or legumes and turning it under by deep plow- 

 ing. Commercial fertilizers should also be applied to replace 

 plant food taken from the soil. Even then it is not likely to 

 be successful without application of superior knowledge 

 of the principles of crop production and of good farm man- 

 agement. 



On a California farm where wheat followed wheat con- 

 tinuously, the yield was 15.7 bushels per acre, but where rye 

 was turned under by deep plowing and followed by wheat 

 the yield was 52.3 bushels. 



If the disadvantages, both from the standpoint of soil 

 fertility and of actual profits, are so great in crop farming, 

 the question arises as to why so many farmers follow this 



