50 BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



and most of the crop should be fed. Oats should be entirely elimi- 

 nated, and their place should be taken by an annual hay crop. This 

 crop may occupy a part of the second year of the rotation with corn 

 and potatoes, or if corn occupies all of the first and second years, it may 

 occupy the third year, along with the potatoes. The proper position 

 of the potato crop is not revealed in these studies, for the reason that 

 the price was abnormally high the year the data were taken. It is 

 probable that the status they now occupy is approximately what it 

 should be. Especially on the smaller farms they help to fill the labor 

 schedule. Wheat . should occupy one year in the rotation and hay 

 two years. Most of the hay should be fed, but especially on the 

 larger farms a good deal of it may be sold with profit. Fruit should 

 be grown as a means of producing home supplies, and a small amount 

 may be grown for sale. Beyond this it does not seem advisable to 

 go into the matter of fruit culture. 



Apparently the farmer of this locality should give somewhat more 

 attention to swine, especially as a means of producing home supplies, 

 but also as a minor source of income. Each farm should keep a 

 flock of hens, usually not less than 50, nor more than 150 or 200. 

 The exceptional man, especially if his farm is small, may give this 

 enterprise more attention than this. Steer feeding should, in the 

 main, be confined to farms that are not adapted to the dairy business, 

 usually for lack of suitable labor, and should ordinarily be confined 

 to farms of considerable size. The same is true of sheep. They do 

 not appear to be so well adapted to the conditions prevailing here as 

 steers. It is only the large farmer who can hope to make a satisfactory 

 profit from them in this region. 



The farmer who has a large herd of exceptionally good cows can 

 afford to give less attention to other sources of income. But as the 

 quality of the cows decreases their number should also decrease, and 

 the farmer should depend more and more on other sources of income. 

 Thus he might sell more hay and corn, keep a few more hens, give 

 more attention to hogs, etc. 



The importance of the dairy cow in this region renders it highly 

 important that the farmers give more attention to improvement in 

 the quality of their cows. This can hardly be done so long as the 

 major portion of the cows are bought, for cows of the best quality 

 are usually not for sale, and even when they are the price is so high 

 that the farmer will find it more profitable to raise them. This sub- 

 ject is further discussed in connection with quality of the farm busi- 

 ness later in this bulletin. 



Resume of conditions affecting types of farming. — In the preced- 

 ing pages we have found that on by far the greater number of farms 

 in this region dairying is the major enterprise, with hay, wheat, and 



