DIVERSIFIED AND SPECIALIZED FARMING 127 



involved in keeping things clean then keeps the milkers 

 employed. Some certified milk farms raise other products 

 with little extra labor. Thus far, much of the certified 

 milk has been produced by wealthy men who have dis- 

 regarded profits. But the business is now getting shorn 

 of unnecessary fads and is beginning to attract farmers. 



92. Other reasons for diversified farming on dairy 

 farms. Dairying combines so well with other kinds of 

 farming, uses waste land for pastures, uses the poorer hay 

 and roughage so well, makes manure, provides work that 

 women and children can do if necessary, and has so many 

 other good points that butter or wholesale milk alone 

 can never provide a business of high profits. Dairying 

 will always be done on a very close margin, and will usu- 

 ally tend to be overdone. For this reason, it is of the 

 utmost importance that milk production be combined 

 with some more profitable enterprise, such as cash crops. 



A very large part of the milk and butter supply is pro- 

 duced by farmers who keep a half dozen cows and who 

 derive most of their income from other enterprises. The 

 cows use up some of the cheaper farm feed and produce 

 manure for raising cash crops. The work on them is done 

 at a small cost. The few cows may be kept whether they 

 really pay or not. It is almost impossible for one who sells 

 nothing but wholesale milk or butter to compete with 

 these conditions. The special dairyman must secure a 

 better price, have something else to sell, or be content 

 with small pay, and sometimes no pay for his own work. 



Some leading dairymen insist that milk is a by-product, 

 that it cannot be expected to pay, that the chief reason for 

 keeping cows is to get the manure. If this is the case, it 

 will at once be seen that if the manure is not used to grow 

 cash crops, the whole system fails. For if the manure is 



