124 PLANT BIOLOGY 



the commercial advantage of even a high school education. "Of 

 the owners, those who went only to district school made an average 

 labor income of $318. The average labor income of high school 

 men was $622. Of the more than high school men (i.e. college, 

 normal, or agriculture courses) it was $847. The differences are 

 emphatic. The labor income of the high school farmers is $304 

 greater than that of the district school men. This would be 5 per 

 cent interest on $6080. In other words the high school education 

 of a farmer is equivalent, on the average, to $6000 worth of 5 per 

 cent bonds." l 



133. Summary of some of the methods employed for 

 increasing crop production. The farmers of the future, 



FIG. 59. A, pile of corn resulting from cross-pollination ; B, pile of corn 

 resulting from self-pollination. (Bailey.) 



therefore, to be successful must have special training. They 

 must be able to carry on selection and breeding experiments, 

 or at least know how to take advantage of these experiments 

 jn the choice of their seeds ; they should know the princi- 

 ples involved in thorough cultivation and in the application 

 of manures and fertilizers ; they should determine by experi- 

 ment the type of crop best adapted to the soil of their farms, 

 and should by proper rotation of crops (that is, by sowing 

 clover or other nitrogen-fixing plants, 150, one year and corn 

 the next) increase the fertility of their soil. If a farmer is a 

 fruit grower, he should know how to prune properly, and he 



1 An Agricultural Survey of the Townships of Ithaca, Dryden, 

 Danby, and Lansing, published by Cornell University, 1911. 



