406 FARM MANAGEMENT 



Fertilizers may be used to supply plant food, but the 

 farm must grow its own organic matter, unless hay, 

 straw, or manure are purchased. 



(6) The rotation should provide as large an area of the 

 most profitable cash crop or crops as can be cared for. 

 Nearly every region has one crop that pays better than 

 any other for the time spent on it. In the Northeastern 

 States, it is hay. In the Middle West, corn. In the 

 northern and western part of the Middle West, wheat. 

 In the South, cotton. In. each case, the farmers desire 

 to grow as many acres as possible of the profitable crop, 

 hence the tendency to one-crop systems. 



A cropping system for the Northeastern States should 

 grow as much hay as possible, because this is the most 

 profitable cash crop for the labor involved. In the Central 

 West, there should be as much corn as possible. In the 

 South there should be as much cotton as possible. 



Scientific men are likely to underestimate the impor- 

 tance of the farmer's experience. The crop that the farmer 

 persists in growing as a single crop should not be reduced 

 too much. 



Even on a dairy farm in the South, it is usually advis- 

 able to grow as much cotton as the labor can cultivate, 

 because this is such a profitable crop. A dairy farm in 

 Illinois should grow as much corn as the men and horses 

 can possibly care for, because it is so profitable as a cash 

 crop, or as hog feed. The New York, Pennsylvania, or 

 New England farmer should raise all the hay his men 

 and horses can harvest, even though his main business 

 may be dairying, poultry, or fruit. In each of the above 

 regions, the most successful farmers follow this practice. 



250. Crop rotations used in different regions. The 

 actual practice in most parts of the cotton belt is to grow 



