LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE 303 



finished products on the farm and sufficient forage must 

 be produced 1 and stored during the favorable seasons to 

 carry the live stock through specially unfavorable 

 seasons. 



Good farming is an essential to success in the Great 

 Plains area as elsewhere. Good farming means practic- 

 ing the best method of producing the largest crops at the 

 lowest relative cost of production and leaving the soil in 

 the best condition for the production of subsequent crops. 

 Good farming may involve methods either intensive or 

 extensive, either expensive or inexpensive; and it must 

 be practical and economical as well as scientific and 

 thorough in order to be good farming. It is just as poor 

 farming to go to too much expense as it is to go to too 

 little expense to accomplish a given result. These investi- 

 gations show that the largest net profits have usually 

 been obtained from crops raised by cultural methods 

 involving a low cost of production rather than from high 

 yields obtained' under methods involving a high cost of 

 production. Lessening the cost of production without 

 proportionately lessening yields should therefore be given 

 first consideration. In other words, extensive rather than 

 intensive systems, of farming should be followed. 



Different types of soil and different combinations of 

 climatic conditions require different cultural methods and 

 different combinations of crops to produce the most pro- 

 fitable results. 



The personality of the farmer and his family ; the size, 

 location, soil and environment of the farm; market facili- 

 ties and prices; the available capital, in cash, labor, or 

 equipment, may any or all be determining factors in the 

 problem of profitable dry farming in the Great Plains 

 area. 



