514 FIELD CROPS 



672. A Crop for Cash Returns. It is essential, if the work 

 of the farm is to be made profitable, that at least one crop be 

 grown for cash returns. It need not necessarily be one 

 which is sold in its natural state, for it may be converted on 

 the farm into animal products and then marketed. On 

 many farms, however, some crop is grown for direct sales 

 for cash or its equivalent. If no cash crop is grown, there 

 is no opportunity to increase the available funds for neces- 

 sary improvements or for the purchase of food and clothing 

 and other necessities of life which can not be produced on 

 the farm. It might be possible to follow a rotation of crops 

 which would rapidly increase the available supply of plant 

 food by growing only such crops as clover, rye, and cowpeas 

 and continually plowing them under as green manure crops, 

 but this practice would yield no cash returns and could only 

 be followed where there was some source of income from 

 outside the farm. In general, the growing of a cash crop is 

 a necessity. Cotton, wheat, potatoes, tobacco, flax, barley, 

 and sugar beets are important crops which are grown for 

 direct sales. Hay and corn frequently become cash crops 

 indirectly by marketing them through live stock. 



673. A Crop for Feeding to Live Stock. At least one 

 crop should be included in the rotation which can be used 

 for feeding to live stock. The necessary work stock should 

 be fed, as far as possible, on products grown on the farm, 

 for it is usually cheaper to grow their feed than to purchase 

 it. It is generally profitable to keep some cattle, hogs, and 

 sheep, or at least one of these classes of animals, to con- 

 vert much that is grown on the farm into more readily 

 marketable or more valuable products, and at the same time 

 to return to the land in the manure a large part of the fer- 

 tility which is removed by the crops. Livestock farming 

 will postpone soil exhaustion much longer than grain farms 



