FARMING OX CUT-OVER LANDS. 21 
and vegetables may be grown profitably where satisfactory markets 
are available. Of these, potatoes are most commonly grown as a 
cash crop. This is perhaps as it should be, because while their heavy 
yield uses much plant food, and they vary greatly in price, they are a 
comparatively certain crop and the yield in this section is generally 
satisfactory. In selling the seed of the legumes enumerated above, 
and of seed corn, soil fertility is usually sold at so high a price that 
the practice can safely be recommended. The selling of rye, wheat, 
and buckwheat on the general market is a practice, however, that 
should not be long continued without considering its effect on soil 
fertility. Hay is an important cash crop in certain sections of the 
region. While the practice of selling hay is undoubtedly yielding 
fair returns on many fertile farms in the cut-over district, here also 
care should be taken to see that the question of soil fertility is not 
being overlooked in the desire to increase present income. 
EFFICIENCY AND DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR. 
The rapid development of this northern country requires much heavy 
work. As farms become more improved the efficiency of field labor 
will increase. The labor on crops is now at a disadvantage on account 
of stumps and small irregular fields. In clearing land, horses and 
dynamite should take the place of man labor wherever practicable. 
One very efficient farmer, who has cleared quite a large Wisconsin 
farm, remarked: " In clearing land I do nothing I can make my horses 
do, and I make my horses do nothing that nature, if left to herself for 
a year or two, will do." 
On a majority of the farms there is so little land under cultivation 
that the question of seasonable distribution of the labor among the 
various farm enterprises is still of minor importance. The opportu- 
nity to work in the woods for wages and to clear land on the home 
farm will for some time to come offer ample opportunity in the way 
of work for both men and horses at all periods of the year. Such 
work as the handling of timber and the 'clearing of land is very diffi- 
cult and the pay comparatively small, yet when this work is done 
for wages it furnishes a living to the new settler until he gets enough 
land cleared to support his family from the income of the farm. 
HOME AND FARM SUPPLIES. 
A study of the farms of this district emphasizes the importance of 
producing home supplies. Vegetables and small fruit for home use 
can be, and in most cases are, produced in abundance. Close to the 
cities and larger villages some income may be secured from the sale 
of such crops, but generally it pays to produce only as much of these 
as can be used at home. The typical farm in this district furnishes 
