236 AGRICULTURE 



it is usually less expensive and more desirable to raise them than 

 to buy them. 



Animal Products. It is often not only desirable to raise these 

 products for home use but profitable to raise them for sale. There 

 is a large and constant demand for milk, cream, butter, cheese, 

 beef, eggs, chickens, turkeys, lard, pork, bacon, honey, lamb, 

 mutton, wool, and leather. 



Why Stock Raising Pays. As a rule, farms and farmers are 

 richer when stock farming is practiced. Stock farming makes 

 larger returns in dollars and cents for the amount of fertility taken 

 from the soil than does any other branch of farming. 



On every farm there are feeds and fodders which it pays better 

 to feed to stock than to use in any other way. Hay, fodder, and 

 other bulky foods are expensive to handle and have a comparatively 

 low market value. It is easier to handle and market ' corn on the 

 hoof,' as cattle and hogs, than corn on the cob. Changed into more 

 concentrated forms, such as wool, milk, and butter, farm products 

 are still more conveniently marketed and command higher prices. 



The good farmer receives these higher prices, and yet retains the 

 larger part of the value of the food consumed by domestic animals. 

 Only a small part of the fertilizing elements of their food is used 

 in making bone, muscle, flesh, and products. The larger part is 

 returned to the land in manure. 



To make a success of stock raising, one must be interested in 

 animals and in their growth and improvement, must understand 

 their needs, must care for them well, and must feed them intelli- 

 gently so as to make the greatest gains at the least expense. Profit 

 in stock raising, as in crop raising, lies in producing the most and the 

 best at least expense. 



Care of Animals. Animals require much care and attention in 

 different ways. They need an abundance of proper food and pure 



