TYPES OF FARMING 93 



better for roots and not so good for corn and where labor 

 is cheap. 



The oat crop does not ,pay very well in the corn-belt, 

 but it fits in the rotation. A farmer can raise all the corn 

 that he can tend to and at the same time raise oats, be- 

 cause the work does not interfere. It is not necessary 

 that oats pay as well as corn ; they do not compete with 

 corn except for land. 



In some sections where dairying pays better than any 

 other kind of live-stock, the profits from raising crops 

 are so high that farmers would prefer cows for the 

 winter, but because cows interfere with crop growing in 

 the summer, they accept a less profitable kind of live- 

 stock. Under some conditions the extra crops that can 

 be raised more than offset the difference in profits on 

 stock. A further discussion of this question is given on 

 page 119. 



No matter how profitable a product is, it must give 

 way to a competing product that pays better. Sometimes 

 a product that does not pay well must continue to be 

 raised, because there is nothing better. 



RELATION OF LAND VALUES TO TYPE OF FARMING 



64. Land values affect the type of farming. The 

 range business has been driven farther and farther west 

 by the increasing land values. It cannot continue on 

 land that is adapted to crop production. Systems of 

 farming that paid in Iowa when the land was worth $50 

 may not pay now, when much of the land is worth $150. 

 There is a constant adjustment to land values, but this 

 has less effect on the type of farming than many of the 

 other factors. A change in land values of $100 per acre 



