THE CHOICE OF CROPS 49 



suited in higher prices, then cotton has again paid best and 

 continued to be king in the South. 



Indian corn and sugar beets have wide areas of common 

 territory so far as the physical and biological conditions of 

 plant growth are concerned. It happens, however, that sugar 

 beets thrive in northwestern Europe and in the western part 

 of the United States where climatic conditions do not favor 

 the culture of Indian corn. In other words, the area suited to 

 Indian corn is much more limited than the area suited to sugar 

 beets. The normal economic result is that corn prices are high 

 enough to enable this crop to crowd sugar beets out of the sys- 

 tem of farming throughout the areas best suited to Indian corn. 

 The opportunities for producing sugar beets are so great out- 

 side of the corn belt as to yield a supply great enough to keep 

 sugar prices too low to enable sugar beets to encroach very far 

 over the margin of the potential corn area. 



Potatoes can be grown more widely than corn or sugar beets. 

 Potatoes thrive on sandy soils which are less valuable for the 

 production of corn and sugar beets. The result is that com- 

 mercial potato growing is found most largely on light lands 

 outside of the corn belt, although for local consumption they 

 are produced throughout the corn belt. 



The general truth is that where two competing crops which are 

 in general demand can be grown on the same land, prices will 

 tend to be such that the one with the more limited potential area 

 will have its choice of territory and its area will expand in the 

 direction of the less and less favorable conditions for its produc- 

 tion until rising costs and lowering prices, due to increased pro- 

 duction, will make it unable to extend farther, owing to greater 

 profits secured from the competing crop. As a result of price 

 variations, there will ever be more or less uncertainty in the 

 zones where the differences in profits are never great. In 

 other regions, where the advantage of some one crop is great, 

 the system of cropping becomes definitely established. 



Distance from market has long been recognized as an im- 

 portant factor in determining what should be produced on a 

 given farm. As one rides from a large city into the country, 



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