CHAPTER XI 

 CROP COMPOSITION 



CROPS have been valued almost entirely by weight. A 

 bushel of wheat has been a bushel of wheat, providing it 

 weighed sixty pounds. Of late years it has been determined 

 that the quality may be as important as the quantity 

 in determining the value of a crop as a food for man or 

 beast. The time is undoubtedly near when crops will be 

 judged in the markets by quality as well as by quantity. 



Many agricultural industries already make significant 

 use of quality valuation. Sugar-beet factories purchase 

 beets at a given price a ton, but the price is conditioned 

 on the sugar content, and the contracts with the farmers 

 always specify a minimum percentage of sugar. Potatoes, 

 when made into starch are valued on the basis of starch 

 content. Grains are graded by quality. Fruits are classed 

 according to color, size and other characteristics. Many 

 other crops are likewise valued according to composition 

 as well as to actual weight. 



As knowledge concerning food and its relation to the 

 animal body becomes popularized, there will be an increas- 

 ing demand for foods of definite composition which will 

 affect the world markets until a scale of prices based on 

 weight and composition shall be established for each crop. 

 In that day, the irrigation farmer will have a great advan- 

 tage, for the regular variation of plant composition with 

 the quantity of water applied makes it possible under 

 the controlled water supply of irrigation to regulate in a 



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