98 FIELD CROPS 



As the table shows, there was not a wide range between 

 the different sections in the matter of difference between 

 cost and value, the extremes being $5.85 to the acre in the 

 South Central and $9.73 in the North Atlantic states. 

 Where the cost of production was highest, in the North 

 Atlantic states, the difference between value and cost was 

 also highest, due to high yield and high price to the bushel. 

 In Illinois and Iowa, the two states of largest production, the 

 respective figures were: Acre cost, $13.25 and $12.39; 

 bushel cost, 31 and 30 cents; value less cost, $9.38 and $8.43. 



116. Acre Value. The average annual value of an acre 

 of corn for the United States for the ten years from 1901 to 

 1910 was $12.53. The highest value is shown in the North 

 Atlantic states, $21.97 to the acre. The Far Western states 

 ranked next with $18,06 and the South Central followed with 

 $15.49. There was little difference in cost in the South 

 Atlantic states, the North Central east of the Mississippi 

 River, and the North Central west of the Mississippi River, 

 the respective figures being $11.42, $11.30, and $11.41 to 

 the acre. The average acre value in Illinois for the ten 

 years was $14.75, and in Iowa, $12.71. 



CORN IN CROP ROTATIONS 



117. Corn Decreases Fertility. It is well known that 

 if a piece of land that has been cropped to grain for a number 

 of years is planted to corn and cultivated well, better crops 

 of grain will be produced on the field the following year or 

 years. This has led to the belief that corn is a soil-building 

 crop. Tests conducted at many experiment stations where 

 corn has been grown on the same plat continuously for a 

 number of years without fertilizer show that the productivity 

 of the plats has gradually decreased until very poor yields 

 result. In fact, these experiments show that the pro- 



