FARMING MORE PROFITABLE THAN EVER 21 



bination of crops, employment of labor can be extended 

 virtually throughout the year. 



A dairy helps to balance up the labor of a farm. The 

 milk herd requires attention morning and night through 

 the summer, say an hour and a half each time, and the 

 middle of the day is spent in cultivating fodder crops. 

 In winter the work of feeding and cleaning takes more 

 time than in summer, but there are still several hours to 

 be devoted to the care of poultry, the marketing of 

 produce and other incidental labor. Hogs and poultry go 

 nicely with the dairy, not only to distribute the labor, but 

 for the profitable use of skimmed milk or other surplus. 



This diversity works well in many other ways. It is an 

 advantage to raise early potatoes, and after this crop has 

 been taken off, onions, cabbage, beets, corn, millet, cow- 

 peas or soy beans can be grown on the same land. There 

 is a cash demand for all such staples which improves with 

 the growth of cities. The market improvement is due to 

 the steady development of a non-producing population. 



A few years ago garden truck was so cheap that farm- 

 ers could not afford to give their time to it. Today a 

 fine income is assured the person who has five or ten 

 acres devoted to such common products as cabbage, 

 onions, beans, lettuce and celery. No crops are more 

 certain than these and with a variety of them the failure 

 of one or two does not ruin the tiller of the soil. 



No crop is easier to handle than strawberries or rasp- 

 berries, and there is no investment for machinery or 

 power in connection with their production, yet berries 

 pay hundreds of dollars per acre, while grain crops 

 which require expensive equipments return $10 to $30 an 

 acre. 



The increase of transportation facilities is another 

 large factor in making farming profitable. The lack of 

 train service in years past was a great handicap to farm- 

 ers. This improvement not only helps farmers to do 



