FAEMING OX CUT-OVEE LANDS, 21 



and vegetables may be grown profitably where satisfactory markets 

 are available. Of these, potatoes are most commonly grown as a 

 cash crop. Tliis is perhaps as it should be, because while their heavy 

 ^'ield uses much plant food, and they vary greatly in price, they are a 

 comparatively certain crop and the yield in this section is generally 

 satisfactory. In selUng the seed of the legumes enumerated above, 

 and of seed corn, soil fertility is usually sold at so high a price that 

 the practice can safely bo recommended. The selling of rye, wheat, 

 and buckwheat on the general market is a practice, however, that 

 should not be long continued without considering its effect on soil 

 fertility. Hay is an important cash crop in certain sections of the 

 region. While the practice of selling hay is undoubtedly yielding 

 fair returns on many fertile farms in the cut-over district, here also 

 care should be taken to see that the question of soil fertility is not 

 being overlooked in the desire to increase present iiicome, 



EFFICIENCY AND DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR. 



The rapid development of this northern country requires much heavy 

 work. As farms become more improved the efhciency of field labor 

 will increase. The labor on crops is now at a disadvantage on account 

 of stumps and small irregular fields. In clearing land, horses and 

 dynamite should take the place of man labor wherever practicable. 

 One very efficient fanner, who has cleared quite a large Wisconsin 

 farm, remarked: "In clearing land I do nothing I can make my horses 

 do, and I make my horses do nothing that nature, if left to herself for 

 a year or two, will do." 



On a majority of the farms there is so httle land under cultivation 

 that the question of seasonable distribution of the labor among the 

 various farm enterprises is still of minor importance. The opportu- 

 nity to work in the woods for wages and to clear land on the home 

 farm will for some time to come offer ample opportunity in the way 

 of work for both men and horses at all periods of the year. Such 

 work as the handling of timber and the clearing of land is very diffi- 

 cult and the pay comparatively smaU, yet when this work is done 

 for wages it furnishes a living to the new settler until he gets enough 

 land cleared to support his family from the income of the farm. 



HOME AND FARM SUPPLIES. 



A study of the farms of this district emphasizes the importance of 

 producing homo supplies. Vegetables and small fruit for home use 

 can he, and in most cases are, produced in abundance. Close to the 

 citifis and larger villages some income may bo secured from the sale 

 of such crops, but generally it pays to produce only as nnicli of these 

 as can bo used at home. The typical farm in this district furnishes 



