ORGANIZATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE 339 



The successful fruit grower, in the first place, must be a good 

 general farmer; he must understand all about teams, the use of tools, 

 plows, and harrows, and the methods of preparing land, seeding, and 

 cultivating. He should have some knowledge of chemistry, so as to 

 know how to buy and mix his fertilizers and study the chemical needs 

 of his crops. Knowledge of plant pathology and physiology is 

 essential, and he must keep fully abreast with the latest methods of 

 defending his plants against disease. He must also be enough of an 

 entomologist to know every bug or insect which commonly attacks his 

 crops. He should know fruits and fruit trees thoroughly, at least all 

 the species which he grows'; he must be familiar with the merits and 

 defects of old varieties and be quick to discover the value of new ones. 

 He must read everything published about his favorite fruit, and be 

 prepared to sift the useful information from that which is not appli- 

 cable to his local conditions. He must also be a good business man, 

 in order to buy his supplies to the best advantage and market his 

 crops with profit. 



103. THE ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN CROP SELECTION 1 

 BY H. C. TAYLOR 



What are some of the economic forces and conditions which have 

 to be taken into account in addition to the physical and biological 

 factors in determining what to produce in a given locality ? 



Opportunity for marketing the product suggests itself at once as 

 an important item to be considered. The abundance or scarcity of 

 labor, and the abundance or scarcity of capital, in a given locality, in 

 comparison with other localities where the soil and climate are equally 

 good, become important determining factors. Again, of two localities 

 with soil and climate equally well suited to the production of a given 

 crop, one locality may be suited also to another crop which requires 

 the attention of the farmer at the same time of year and which is a 

 more profitable crop. 



To illustrate the way in which economic forces need be taken into 

 account in determining which crops to grow, take, for example, the 

 beet sugar industry. Sugar being desired, man has put forth efforts to 

 secure a supply. The problems of securing this supply brought into 

 requisition such plants as by nature contain sugar. Among other 

 plants a variety of beet was found to contain sugar. The news went 



1 Adapted from Research Bulletin 16, University of Wisconsin Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, pp. 93-97. 



