ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FARMS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 25 



Bulletin 150 of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural College, 

 "Raising Beef Cattle/' furnishes good data on raising beef cattle. 

 Part of the conclusions set forth in this bulletin are as follows: "Beef 

 production is adapted to and will be found profitable under Penn- 

 sylvania conditions on land valued at $60 or less per acre that can 

 maintain cows at the rate of 2 acres per head during the pasturing 

 season, and on which corn can be raised for silage." 



CROPS. 



For comparison with crop yields received on these farms for the 

 year under study, corresponding yields as given in the United States 

 Census reports for the years 1900 and 1910 are here presented. The 

 average yields of the three counties in which the survey was made, 

 as given in the last two census reports, are taken together to give 

 a figure applicable to the whole area. 



The yield of corn for the year covered by this study was about 

 normal, being 34 bushels per acre as compared with yields of 33 and 

 32 bushels given in the last two census reports for these three 

 counties. On well-drained land an excellent crop of corn was har- 

 vested in 1916, but on many fields a large part of the corn was soft 

 and of poor quality. Silage yielded an average of 1\ tons per acre. 

 Most of the seed corn planted for grain is produced on the farm, but 

 a considerable part of the seed for silage corn is bought. The climate 

 here is less favorable for corn growing than that of many other areas. 

 It is highly advisable to have a vigorous, early-maturing strain of 

 corn, that yields well. Each farmer should make an effort to 

 improve his strain of corn, which can be done quite easily by field 

 selection of the seed. 



The yield of wheat was the same as that given for the area in the 

 last two census reports. Wheat was the principal cash crop of the 

 area, 3.8 per cent of the total farm receipts and over one-fourth 

 (26 per cent) of the receipts from crops being from sales of this grain, 

 The average yield in 1916 was 16 bushels per acre, and the average 

 amount sold per farm reporting was 61 bushels. 



There are some farms in this area not well adapted to wheat on 

 which rye could be introduced into cropping systems with profit. 

 Rye is hardier than wheat and will grow on poorer soils. 1 



The average yield of oats for the year of the survey was 30 bushels, 

 as compared with census figures of 34 and 26 bushels. This crop 

 occupies 16.3 per cent of the crop area of all the farms under con- 

 sideration. It is an important crop in this area and nearly all of it 

 is fed on the farm. Much of the grass seeding is put in with oats. 

 Smut causes some damage to the crop each year, and a few farmers 



1 For more details concerning the growing of rye, sec Farmer's Bulletin 756, "Culture of Rye in the Eastern 

 Half of the United States." 



