104 The Potato 



too much concentrated on the other crops of a rotation 

 and the hay is left to grow as best it can. The handling 

 of meadows and pastures is far better understood in 

 Europe than in America, some being hundreds of years 

 old. The use of better seed mixtures, of better methods 

 of seeding, of better adaptation of the different hay crops 

 to soils and of better fertilization will not only add directly 

 to the yield and value of hay crops, but will increase 

 greatly the yields of the other crops of any rotation by 

 increasing soil fertility. 



The statement is often made that when farm crops are 

 fed to animals, the entire crop is returned to the soil in 

 the manure. This is nearly true in regard to the mineral 

 elements when the manure is well cared for. But the 

 organic matter is very largely lost in the process of diges- 

 tion. Over sixty per cent of that of hay and straw is 

 used in this way, somewhat less in the case of grain feeds. 

 In addition there is the loss in the handling of the manure. 

 While the remainder is in more quickly available condi- 

 tion than in straw or in stubble, the question of whether 

 to harvest the crop to feed or to return directly to the 

 land will depend on the profit expected from feeding, the 

 need of the soil for organic matter, the cost of labor and 

 the effect which either practice will have on carrying out 

 the rotation in use. The millions of people in cities must 

 be fed. The organic matter and mineral plant-food in 

 the produce shipped is lost to the farm, but other means 

 can be found of replacing both. The price of farm prod- 

 uce within easy shipping distance of cities is often greater 

 than its value as feed for animals on the farm. Under 

 these conditions it pays to sell crops and keep up soil 

 fertility by fertilizers, catch-crops, and by attention to 

 increasing crop residues left in the soil. ' Prices for farm 



