BIG CROPS vs. NORMAL 47 



prices the yield per acre increases. The higher 

 the price at which wheat can be sold, the more 

 fertilizer the farmer can afford to put on his 

 land, the more work he can give his fields, and 

 the bigger the yield to the acre. The reverse is 

 true in practice. The higher the price of wheat 

 the less the average yield per acre over a period 

 of years. 



The reason is not hard to discover. I made 

 part of it myself. When the war put wheat over 

 the dollar mark I planted wheat on land that 

 was not adapted to it. My yield was away be- 

 low the average of the country. What I did on 

 my farm, farmers everywhere did. Farmers 

 know how to increase production, and the 

 cheapest way is to plant more land, not to spend 

 more money on land already in use. 



The farmer knew more about the subject than 

 the economist, although he could not express 

 himself in terms of diminishing returns or van- 

 ishing profits. His bank account was less liable 

 to make errors than the theories of his advisers. 



When cotton sells at five cents per pound it 

 can be profitably raised only on such land as is 



