22 FIELD CROPS 



sary work animals. Market facilities are often a deciding 

 factor in the selection of crops, for bulky crops like hay might 

 be produced profitably for a near-by market, while the 

 profit would be consumed by the transportation charges if 

 it were necessary to haul the product a considerable dis- 

 tance. It is usually advantageous to market crops in a 

 condensed form. Feeding forage and grain crops on the 

 farm and marketing them in the form of live stock or live- 

 stock products help to keep up the fertility of the soil if 

 the manure is utilized, while the expense of marketing is 

 reduced. 



17. Diversification. It is not often safe to depend 

 entirely on a single crop. It is sometimes desirable to make 

 a specialty of a crop, and to become known as a producer of 

 high quality oats or corn or cotton or some other product of 

 unusual excellence. This often results in materially increased 

 profits, but only a portion of the farm should be devoted to 

 any particular crop each year. It is often the case that 

 unfavorable conditions which cause a partial or complete 

 failure of one crop may be suitable for another. In diversity 

 of crops there is safety. Some of the reasons for diversifi- 

 cation and systematic crop sequence are given in the chapter 

 on Crop Rotation. 



SUPPLEMENTARY READING 



Burkett's Farm Crops., pp. 43-83. 

 Davenport's Domesticated Animals and Plants. 

 De Candolle's Origin of Cultivated Plants. 

 Hunt's Cereals in America, pp. 1-12. 



