40 BULLETIN 941, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



One great advantage of pasture made from the tame grasses is 

 that they furnish grazing earlier in the spring, and for about four to 

 six weeks longer in the fall than native grass pastures. 



THE ORGANIZATION AND PROFITS OF INDIVIDUAL FARMS. 



To be profitable a farm should follow the type of farming best 

 adapted to its conditions, should be efficient in the use of both man 

 and horse labor, adequately yet economically equipped and as good 

 as or better than the average farm of its type in size of business, yield 

 of crops, and returns from live stock. The land must be capable of 

 growing crops for sale or crops to be utilized in producing something 

 which can be sold. Crops which are not in either of these classes will 

 not profit the producer, even though the land is suited to their pro- 

 duction, nor will their production be profitable unless they are utilized 

 when produced. Thus, though a farmer has land suitable to the 

 production of a perishable crop requiring a highly organized market- 

 ing system of distribution, if he is located in a section where such an 

 organization is not available and has not the ability or the means to 

 provide it, it would not pay him to produce such a crop. The land 

 operated may also be too high in price to produce profitable returns 

 on the investment under the type of farming to which it is best 

 adapted. 



Many factors cause a variation in the profit from various farm 

 products from year to year. One year a product may be produced 

 at a profit, the next at a loss, or the attempt to produce it may result 

 in a failure. The farming business, however, has to go on each year, 

 and in regions where wide variations both in yields and in prices 

 exist the farmer may have a greater assurance of an income each 

 year by having a combination of revenue-producing enterprises. 

 Should one or two fail, the income from the others will compensate 

 the loss. These enterprises should be so organized that labor may 

 be utilized as effectively as possible throughout the year. 



The statement and analysis of combined farms afforded the oppor- 

 tunity of observing what enterprises, considering the region as a whole, 

 were being exploited and to what extent they were productive of 

 revenue. 



In figure 16 is shown the labor income (each bar represents the 

 labor income of a farm) of each of the valley and level-upland farms 

 and each of the hilly farms. The farms are arranged according to 

 the acreage devoted to crops, beginning with the farm having the 

 smallest acreage of crops. From this chart it will be seen that of 

 the valley and level upland group only one farmer earned over $2,000 

 labor income, and he had next to the largest acreage in crops. Fifteen 

 had over SI, 000, and eight earned no cash wage for their year's labor 

 and less than 5 per cent on the capital invested. Of the hilly farms, 



