FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 83 



were unprofitable. Then the people turned to something else. 

 The large farm areas were divided into smaller farms and grain 

 farming, wheat, oats, flax, etc. was carried on. After a few- 

 years this land becomes less productive, the fertility has been 

 taken from the soil and the soil now refuses to grow crops, be- 

 cause in every one hundred bushels of wheat the farmer sold, 

 he removed from his farm $20 worth of his farm's fertility, 

 and for every one hundred bushels of corn sold he removed $15 

 worth of his farm's fertility; but if he sold 2,000 lbs. of butter, 

 he would have removed only fifty cents' worth of his farm's 

 fertility. In other words, it takes $22,700.00 worth of butter 

 to remove only as much fertility from the soil as there is in 

 one hundred bushels of wheat. 



After the small grain period, comes the fat cattle period. 

 In a great many sections of our country the farmers are living 

 in the cattle period and fat cattle raising is unprofitable to the 

 general farmer when the price of corn is from 60 to See per 

 bushel, and especially when cattle and hogs are bringing only 

 6 to 8c per lb. The margin of profit is too small and the gen- 

 eral farmers must seek relief in some other kind of farming\ 

 He generally turns to dairying, the last stage in the evolu^jjion 

 of agriculture. 



According to scripture, "That which is first shall be last 

 and that which is last shall be first." In the evolution of ag- 

 riculture, grazing and ranching were first, and dairying last. 

 Today dairying is becoming first and ranching or grazing is be- 

 coming last. Dairying is becoming the nucleus or corner stone 

 in general farming. All other kinds of farming are built 

 around it. 



The intelligent dairy farmer of today has a silo to take 

 the place of his grazing or pasture land, because he finds it is 

 real economy to use a silo. Many farmers in the Northern 

 part of this state and in the dairy section of the United States 

 have silos to conserve their farm roughing for feed during sum- 

 mer and winter. They are also learning the advantag'es of win- 

 ter dairying, which are : A greater milk production, better pric- 

 es for milk and butter fat, better quality of calves, hence better 



