a good crop and market it at a profit. There are certain seasons 

 when little skill is required to accomplish this task. The tem- 

 perature is favorable, rain falls at the right time and in the 

 right amount, and market prices are good. These seasons, 

 however, are the exception and not the rule. We find that in 

 the average season nature gives her support somewhat grudg- 

 ingly; she withholds a little in one direction and a great deal 

 in another. It is then that all the resourcefulness of the farmer 

 must be brought into play, and it is against such contingencies 

 that he must prepare if he expects to raise a crop in the adverse 

 years and eliminate the risks from his business. With this end 

 in view let us deal with some of the factors above enumerated. 



Management of the Land. 



Management of the land is the factor of first importance. 

 This includes not only tillage, but the more complex problems 

 of moisture and plant food control as well. 



Moisture in the right amount is an absolute essential in the 

 production of crops. There are probably few soils so poor that 

 a crop cannot be produced if the right amount of moisture is 

 supplied, and there are none so good that a crop can be pro- 

 duced without moisture. Most of our plants need for root 

 room a zone 2| to 3 feet deep from which water should be 

 quickly drained away. The farmer may well study his land 

 to determine if he needs to assist the natural drainage processes 

 by putting in a system of tile drainage. The answer is not 

 hard to find. If work in the spring must often be delayed 

 waiting for the land to dry off, and if cultivation must be 

 delayed a long time after a heavy rain, — if, in fact, a crop 

 is frequently lost or made unprofitable because of too much 

 water in the soil, — then the risk should be eliminated by a 

 system of tile drainage. In the case of most of the land on 

 my own farm, a system of tile drainage is the determining 

 factor in producing a paying crop in a wet year. Such a sys- 

 tem, in pre-war days, cost about $50 per acre, and would cost 

 $100 to-day. In no year have I failed to receive 6 per cent 

 return on my investment, and in wet years, in growing ex- 

 pensive crops, I have received 100 per cent return. The value 

 of the crop one is growing would, of course, be a consideration 



