RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



doing this work, thus leaving approximately one-third 

 of what the consumer pays as the producer's portion. 

 Where a large part of the cost of transportation and 

 handling can be eliminated, as is the case with near-by 

 markets, the producer's share of the retail price is 

 greatly increased. In some cases, too, the farmer rnay 

 become the retailer and so reap all of the outlay for the 

 farm products that the consumer buys. 



Our home markets are a great source of revenue in 

 the sale of cash crops that can be grown to supplement 

 the income of the dairy. Narrow specialization is sel- 

 dom the most profitable type of farming, because under 

 such a system the labor of the farm is not well utilized. 

 Then again, seasonal conditions may seriously reduce 

 the profits from one crop or product and not from an- 

 other. Dairy farming will allow for the growing of 

 such supplementary market crops as garden truck, pota- 

 toes, cabbage, fruit, and even hay. The nearness to 

 market, the demands of the market and the type of soil 

 will indicate which of these is likely to prove most 

 profitable on a particular farm. On the hill lands, at 

 considerable distance from the markets, many farmers 

 to-day are growing, at good profit, apples of the finest 

 quality, while hay always finds a ready sale, either loose 

 or baled, in our manufacturing towns and cities. Pota- 

 toes, cabbage and turnips are crops that can be handled 

 at a considerable distance from markets, and such 



