FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 607 



has a naturally rich soil. It is usually much cheaper to buy 

 fertility in the soil than to buy poor land and spend years and 

 money in making it productive. 



With any given soil, the crops may be increased by saving the 

 farm manure and by spreading it thin enough with a manure- 

 spreader so that the entire farm can be covered frequently, every 

 five years if possible. It is much better to spread five loads per 

 acre every five years than to spread ten loads every ten years. 



The use of more fertilizers, lime, tile drains, better methods 

 of tillage, and better crop rotations may also be called for. 

 Which of the various means of securing good crops to use, and 

 just how far to go with one before improving on some other point, 

 is a problem that taxes the best judgment of the most experienced 

 farmer. Certainly it does not pay to go on permanently raising 

 crops that are poorer than the neighbors raise. If the results in 

 the entire neighborhood are too low because of poor soil, it may 

 be best to change the type of farming or to go elsewhere. There 

 is no more reason for working a farm that cannot be made to 

 pay than there is for working the abandoned iron mines in 

 New York that cannot be made to pay. 



Apparently a farmer would do well to use some means by which 

 he can obtain yields a little better than his neighbors obtain on 

 the same soil. About a fifth better seems to be a good standard 

 to work for. If the neighbors raise one ton of hay, it is probable 

 that it will pay to raise at least 1.2 tons. If they raise 1.5 tons, 

 it is probable that 1.75 tons will pay better. But on the soil that 

 normally raises 1.5 tons, it is probable that 3 tons can be raised 

 at less cost per ton on two acres than on one. In short, it is 

 usually not wise to go too far beyond the natural limitations of 

 the soil. Certainly this is the opinion of the farmers. The high- 

 est crop index in Livingston County was 186 per cent. There 

 was no farmer whose crops were twice as good as the average. 

 There were, of course, instances of a single crop being as good 

 as that, but, taking all the crops together, 86 per cent above the 

 average was the highest yield obtained. This farm had a soil that 

 was naturally extra good. 



