6i8 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



get from feeding it to be wasted. The farm is no better off than 

 it would be if they sold half the hay and saved all the manure. 



A large proportion of the animal products that go on the 

 market are produced from low-grade feed. Animals are kept to 

 fill out the year's work. Stock is often kept in order to make use 

 of pasture land that could not otherwise be used. Much of the 

 work is sometimes done by women and children.. For all these 

 reasons, live-stock is produced on a close margin of profit. The 

 results of cost accounts show that, for the time spent, crops usu- 

 ally give much higher pay for a day's work than do animals. It 

 usually pays to spend at least part of the time raising cash crops 

 that pay good returns for a day's work. 



If one goes to the other extreme and keeps no animals or too 

 few animals, he will not have a full year's work. Animals help to 

 provide winter work. Table 2 1 shows that when over 60 per cent 

 of the money comes from cash crops, a man accomplishes only 

 two thii^ds as much in a year as he does when more animals are 

 kept. It is best to raise cash crops when they pay well, but the 

 year should be filled out with other work even if the pay per day 

 is less. 



Every farm has a considerable amount of low-grade hay, mixed 

 hay, and other products that do not have much market value or 

 that are too bulky to pay to sell. At least enough stock should be 

 kept to make use of these low-grade products. On most farms 

 there is some land that will not pay for farming but that will 

 bring some income as pasture land. 



Whatever explanation one may make of the reasons for diversi- 

 fied farming, the facts remain the same. In every county studied, 

 the persons who have a good balance between cash crops and 

 animal products are making more than are those who go to either 

 extreme. Usually, in New York, 20 to 40 per cent of the receipts 

 should be from the sale of crops. The more money one has and 

 the more profitable his animals are, the nearer he should come to 

 an exclusively stock farm, but it rarely pays to stop selling at least 

 one cash crop. The less money there is available and the poorer 

 stock pay, the fewer one should keep, but it rarely pays to sell 

 nothing but crops even on a truck farm. 



