202 RURAIj new YORK 



This fact when studied in connection with the gen- 

 eral supply and price of crops illustrates a general 

 law to which the production of live-stock roughly 

 conforms. Live-stock constitutes a reserve food 

 supply, being a means of storing food and of con- 

 verting it into new forms that increase the total 

 consumption. Consequently, when the supply of 

 food crops is large and the price relatively low, the 

 total number of animals is increased and more crops 

 are fed. 



More persons can be maintained by the direct con- 

 sumption of crops than on the animal products from 

 the same amount of crops. In other words, live- 

 stock are destructive of food values whenever those 

 foods could be consumed by man. It has been found 

 by investigation that 100 pounds of nutriment when 

 fed to animals yields 15.6 pounds of nutriment in pork, 

 2.8 pounds in beef, and 2.6 pounds in mutton, while 

 in milk it will yield 18 pounds, cheese 9.4, butter 

 5.4, and in eggs 5.1 pounds. On the other hand, 

 when the crops are of such a nature that they are un- 

 suited to human consumption but can be eaten by 

 animals, they are thereby converted into food and 

 other products suitable for human consumption. 



The persistence with which live-stock is kept on 

 the farms of New York indicates that there is some 

 fundamental reason underlying the practice. It has 

 already been pointed out in the chapter on crops that 

 New York is not eminent in the production of grain 

 crops that are used as food for animals. Compared 

 with the middle western states, fruits and vegetables 



