LIVESTOCK FARMING 43 



incidental expenses, costs $50, leaving a margin profit of 

 $14. 



A 300-pound pig can be grown at from 4 to 5 pounds of feed 

 for each pound of gain. A pig, therefore, costs in round 

 numbers about $16 after allowing 25 per cent, for incidental 

 expenses. Such a pig at 7 cents a pound is worth $21 and 

 returns a profit of $4 directly over and above the feed 

 consumed. 



The grain farmer, with every crop he sells, disposes of con- 

 siderable plant food. If he continues this for a sufficient 

 time, he reduces the productive capacity of his soil to such an 

 extent that farming ceases to be profitable. 



The plant food in the soil upon which the plants grow is 

 similar to a bank account. When it is once drawn out, it is 

 gone and plants will not grow till the stock of plant food is 

 returned to the soil. To get an object lesson of this, one needs 

 only to take a trip to some of the older States. Here he will 

 find farms on which it is just as impossible to grow crops with- 

 out fertilizers as it is without seed. Thus, while grain farm- 

 ing may be profitable so long as there is an abundance of plant 

 food in the soil, leaving out of consideration the fact that the 

 soil is being robbed, the farmer really impoverishes himself 

 to the extent that he is unable to return the necessary plant 

 food to the soil in the form of fertilizers. He is then obliged 

 to abandon his farm or leave a heritage to his children that is 

 a burden on their shoulders. 



Again, if a grain farmer burns his straw or cornstalks, he 

 destroys one of his most valuable assets — such stuff as de- 

 cay converts into humus to become plant food and to loosen 

 and aerate the soil, get oxygen into it, and furnish conditions 

 favorable for the work of bacteria in liberating and preparing 

 plant food. 



Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretaryof Agriculture, in /farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 704, says: 



"The farmer who sells his crops at the elevator is robbing his own soil, 

 his own purse, and his own children — selling their birthright for a mess 

 of pottage. The farmer who not only does this but also burns all his 

 cornstalks and straw, reminds one of the burglar who takes all the 

 valuables he can .carry off and sets fire to what is left." 



