RELATIVE FARM VALUE OF CROPS. 



47 



1909, no grain was produced on account of severe drought. In these 

 six tests the yields of the fodder alone have been given. At High- 

 more no record was kept of the fodder, so only the grain yields are 

 shown. The record is therefore incomplete and unsatisfactory, but 

 it is sufficient to show the superiority of the corn rotations over the 

 summer-tilled rotations. 



The value of the fodder was calculated at $3 per ton. It is possible 

 that this is too high for some localities where wild hay could be ob- 

 tained for the cost of cutting, stacking, and hauling; on the other 

 hand it was probably too low where hay was scarce and high on ac- 

 count of drought. The average farm value of hay for ten years in 

 the four States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and 

 Kansas has been $4.78 per ton. On this basis corn fodder would be 

 worth at least $3. The average farm value per acre of the grain 

 alone of the corn crop at the twelve stations where the corn matured 

 was $10 per acre, calculated at 39 cents per bushel. The average 

 farm value per acre of fodder in the sixteen tests where a record was 

 kept was $4.67. At three of the tests where corn failed to mature, the 

 wheat and oats gave better yields on the corn stubble than on the 

 summer tillage. This leaves only three tests — Judith Basin, Mont., 

 Garden City, Kans., and Dalhart, Tex.— where the gain was not in 

 favor of the corn rotations. At Garden City, Kans., and Dalhart, 

 Tex., the entire crops of wheat, oats, and corn were a practical failure 

 even on the summer-tilled land, so these tests may be discarded as 

 indecisive. The balance would therefore be in favor of the corn 

 rotations in all the decisive tests, except Judith Basin, if no value 

 whatever were placed upon the corn fodder. A valuation of even 

 50 cents per ton for the fodder would turn the balance in favor of the 

 corn rotation at Judith Basin. 



In the final right-hand column of the table are given the net average 

 gains per acre of the corn rotations over the summer-tilled rotations, 

 including both the grain and fodder of the corn crop. These figures 

 were obtained by adding half the average value of the corn crops 

 to the average value of the wheat and oats in the corn rotations and 

 subtracting the average value of the wheat and oat crops in the 

 summer-tilled rotations. 



a The reason for adding one-half instead of the whole of the average farm value per 

 acre of the two corn crops to the average farm value per acre of the two wheat and two 

 oat crops in the corn rotations (1 and 4) is as follows: There are twice as many acres 

 of wheat and oats, taken together, as there are either of corn or of summer-tilled land, 

 respectively, in each of the two pairs of rotations. One-half of the average farm value 

 of the two corn crops should therefore be added to each of the average farm values of 

 the two wheat and the two oat crops in the two corn rotations (1 and 4), and their 

 sum should be divided by two in order to make the net average farm value per acre 

 of the two corn rotations comparable to that of the two summer-tilled rotations (5 and 

 8). The same end is accomplished by adding one-half the average farm value of the 

 two corn crops to the average farm value of the two wheat and two oat crops in the 

 corn rotations, as is done in the table. 



52345°— Bui. 187—10 4 



