14 BULLETIN 1421, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The percentage return to capital, the yield per acre of each crop 
studied, and the cost per acre and per unit of product of producing 
these crops varied widely during each year of the study. Each 
year some farms were highly successful, whereas others were equally 
unsuccessful. High average crop yields per farm are very generally 
associated with low cost per unit of product and high percentage 
return to capital and low average yields with low return to capital 
and high cost per unit of product. 
Relatively high crop yields, it appears, may be obtained by giving the 
legumes, especially alfalfa, a promineni place in the cropping system, 
by a liberal use of barnyard manure, by planting only the best seed, 
and by the well-timed performance of the cultural operations. The 
percentage of the crop acreage devoted to alfalfa and clover varied 
greatly on these farms, the average being around 30 per cent. 
If the acreage of alfalfa is increased because of its effect on crop 
yields, it will be necessary to feed more range sheep and cattle or to 
increase the livestock kept on the farms in order to utilize the addi- 
tional hay produced. Farmers who are inexperienced in the handling 
of dairy cattle, sheep, or hogs should develop these enterprises 
gradually. It is far safer to start with a few cows, a few ewes, or a 
few brood sows and gain experience as each enterprise is developed 
than to expand these lines suddenly. 
In a long-time program it will probably pay to keep approximately 
about half of the farm in alfalfa and pasture, feed the hay produced 
to livestock, and return the manure to the soil. The alfalfa should 
be rotated systematically over the farm, occupying each: piece of 
land on which it is sown from three to four years. The pasture 
should be changed to a different location every few years. 
Considerable freedom can be exercised in the choice of the crops 
to be grown on that portion of the farm not devoted to alfalfa and 
to pasture. The four row-tilled crops grown in this district (pota- 
toes, beans, sugar beets, and corn) all serve much the same purpose 
in the crop rotation for cleaning the land. In deciding what to grow, 
the choice should be based largely on (1) the anticipated prices that 
are likely to prevail when the products are ready for market, (2) the 
estimated yields that can be obtained, (3) the labor, materials, and 
other items of cost that must be expended in the production of each 
crop, (4) the effect that each crop has on the yield of subsequent 
crops, and (5) the effect that the growing of each crop has on the 
‘distribution and utilization of the available farm labor. 
Because money costs’vary considerably from year to year, special 
attention was given in this study to the quantities of labor and 
materials used in the production of an acre of each of the seven 
crops. Since the hours of labor and the quantities of materials 
required per acre remain fairly constant, the cost of producing an 
acre of each crop may be estimated very closely for any given year 
by applying current prices to these quantities (Table 63). 
The farmers of this district must choose from some 8 or 10 crops and 
the different kinds of livestock in deciding what to produce. This 
choice can not be made once for all time. The prices of the various 
farm products are changing more or less constantly. These price 
changes cause corresponding changesin the relative profitableness of the 
different lines of production. Forthisreason the problem of deciding 
what and how much to produce comes up for solution year after year. 
