INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE FARMING 157 



plant various crops on the individual farm. The land that 

 it will not pay to till should be used for woods or pasture. 

 Crops that require much labor should be given as good a 

 soil as other conditions will allow. Suppose that one is 

 growing a young orchard, and that the trees will damag? 

 an intertilled crop by one-fourth. The crop planted in the 

 orchard should be the least costly of the crops that will 

 do. Such crops as strawberries or small fruits are too in- 

 tensive to grow in orchards unless land is very limited. The 

 injury to these crops may be enough to pay rent on addi- 

 tional land on which to raise them, and till the orchard 

 besides. 



Again the same principle holds in using fertilizers or 

 other intensive methods. It is probably as easy to in- 

 crease a potato or apple crop by 20 per cent as it is to 

 increase a wheat or corn crop the same amount. But 

 the increased crop of corn or wheat may not pay, while the 

 same percentage increase may be very profitable on the 

 higher priced crop. For this reason, the most extensive 

 use of fertilizers is on potatoes and truck crops. Very 

 high prices for the general farm crops accomplish the 

 same result. The high price of hay near eastern cities 

 often makes it pay to fertilize hay. 



INTENSIVE VS. EXTENSIVE METHODS 



105. How large crops does it pay to grow? Much 

 better crop yields may be secured by the use of more labor, 

 more fertilizers, and more expense in general. Just how 

 far it is wise to go in this respect is always a problem. 

 Most farmers are not growing as large crops as their condi- 

 tions warrant ; some are growing larger crops than it pays 

 to grow. With our increasing population, it pays to grad- 



