5 88 VARIOUS FERTILITY FACTORS 



the table are less than have been produced on good soil in good 

 seasons. They are not likely to be secured as an average even on 

 the best treated land, but they are not too high to serve as an ideal 

 toward which we may well strive and which we may expect to reach 

 under favorable conditions. 



If in the general equalization, or balance, between live-stock 

 farming and grain the value of clover seed markedly decreases, 

 beans, peas, and other edible legumes will to some extent be sub- 

 stituted for clover in the rotation of crops. 



Perhaps the most valuable fact brought out in Table 120 is the 

 very rapid increase that occurs in net-earning power, and conse- 

 quently in land value, after fixed expenses are covered. Thus, 

 land which produces a 2o-bushel crop of corn is valued at $21.81 

 an acre; while, if the crop yield is doubled, the land value is 

 multiplied more than five times. 



With 60 bushels of corn and yields of equivalent rank for other 

 crops, the land becomes worth more than $200 an acre, and with 

 50 bushels of wheat, 100 of corn and oats, and 5 bushels of clover 

 seed, the average value of the land approaches $400 an acre. 



A careful consideration of the figures given in Table 1 20 will show 

 that the expenses allowed for the large yields are relatively much 

 more ample than those allowed for the small yields. Thus, 5 cents 

 a bushel is allowed for husking and marketing corn; and, while 

 this is ample for corn yielding 80 bushels per acre, it is probably 

 inadequate for a 2o-bushel crop. Likewise, the taxes on poor land 

 are, as a very general rule, relatively higher than on good land. This 

 is due to the fact that most of the taxes are for local purposes 

 (schools, roads, bridges, etc.), and the actual expense in a poor 

 land section is about the same as where the lands are rich. Thus, 

 land which produces only 20 bushels of corn may pay 30 cents an 

 acre tax, while land producing 80 bushels (in another section of the 

 state) may not be taxed more than 50 cents an acre. To be sure, 

 the state tax might be properly equalized, but the county and local 

 taxes are often more than ten times the state tax. 1 



It will easily be noted that when crop yields sink slightly below 



1 Likewise the federal tax, though indirect, is usually about ten times the state 

 tax. 



