426 DRY LAND FARMING 



prepared for the successful growth of grain crops the 

 following year. The larger, therefore, that the area of 

 such crops is, up to the limit of the ability of the farmer 

 to properly care for them without undue outlay for hired 

 help, the larger should be his profits from the ground 

 thus tilled, as, to the extent that he grows these crops, 

 he avoids the necessity for the cropless bare-fallow. 



The introduction of live stock makes it possible to 

 maintain virtually undiminished production in the land. 

 The waning fertility in lands where such production has 

 been long deferred, as in some parts of the Dakotas, 

 California and other states, should serve as a warning. 

 Some lands, and especially the volcanic ash soils of the 

 west, may stand continued cropping for many years, but 

 ultimately they must fail. Beyond all question, the fer- 

 tilizing material produced by live stock will add greatly 

 to production in all its various lines. 



Live stock may be made to furnish a large part of 

 the living of the farmer, and with but little cost. The 

 cow, for instance, can turn the free grasses of the prairie 

 into the best food that man may get. The brood-sow 

 and her progeny will manufacture the same grasses with 

 waste from the grain fields into meat for the winter. 

 Fowls with a moderate grain supplement will turn grass- 

 hoppers and other insects into valuable food. Such live 

 stock, therefore, should be introduced the first season 

 where there is a family on the ranch, but, of course, in 

 very limited numbers. 



At the very outset, therefore, the revenues of the 

 farm may be increased by reducing the outlay for food. 

 The farmer with a family who fails to try to grow a large 

 part of his living on his own farm is not true to himself. 

 As time goes on the live stock will become a source of con- 

 siderable revenue, although for several years it is not 

 likely to become the chief source of revenue on the 

 arable farm. * 



