444. Keeping records. ВЂ” The fanner cannot, without

keeping some kind of records, tell which phases of his

business are most profitable. The merchant keeps books

primarily to tell whom he is owing and who owes him.

The fanner can usually keep account of these things

without a set of books; but in order to tell where his

profits came from and where the losses occur a set of simple

fann accounts is indispensable. By doing this, he is

able to eliminate unprofitable crops and raise only those

giving greatest returns. Pew farmers will find it advis-

able to keep a complex set of accounts, but some simple

bookkeeping will certainly pay.

445. Profits to a farmer vs. 3delds to the acre. — In

discussing crop production, the idea is sometimes advanced

that the chief aim of the farmer is to get high acre-yields.

While high yields are desirable, they are by no means

all that the farmer wants. His chief concern is to get

a high total income for his year's work. A net earning

of ten dollars an acre on a farm of 100 acres is more profit-

able than an earning of twenty-five dollars an acre on a

farm of ten acres.

High yields do not always bring a high net profit for

404 The Principles of Agronomy

each acre. For example, potatoes usually bring actually

less money to the farmer during a year when yields are

high all over the country than during years of low yields.

Methods should be adopted which give large yields ; but

of equal importance, is the organization of the business

in such a way that the farmer will receive a high total

income even though the yield of any individual crops is

not high. In short, the function of the farmer is not

primarily to make his land give big yields, but to use the

land in helping himself to get a large yeariy income. The

farm is for the farmer, and not the farmer for the farm.

446. Profits from man and horse labor. — The farmer

should not expect to make all his profits from the land ;

he should also make money from the men he hires and from

the horses he uses. Some farmers seem to think that

money paid out for hired help is lost, whereas in reahty,

a good profit should be made on every day's labor used

on the farm. To do this requires careful management.

The work must be so well planned that no time is spent

doing unprofitable jobs. Employment must be arranged

for rainy days and other times when it is impossible to

do the regular farm work.

More attention is usually given to man than to horse

labor. No farmer would think of keeping hired men if

there was no work for them to do, but idle horses are kept

on the place for months at a time. By providing work

for all the horses on the farm, the cost of producing crops

is greatly reduced.

447. Understanding each crop. — Each kind of crop

has its own peculiar requirements, which must be catered

to if they are to be profitable. The farmer should

base his practices upon a knowledge of the needs of his

crops. He must understand that alfalfa needs a soil

containing lime, while com needs a soil having consider-

Factors of Success in Crop Production 405

able organic matter. He should also learn how fertilizers,

irrigation water, and other factors affect the quality of

the crops he raises so as to be able to produce crops

which the market demands. To have the highest suc-

cess, therefore, the farmer must be an observing naturalist.

448. Markets. — It is useless to raise crops unless

they can be sold at a profit. The ordinary farmer is a

much better producer than salesman. He is thinking

continuously how to increase yields, but the question of

markets attracts his attention only once or twice a year —

just during the marketing season. The farmer may, how-

ever, at market-time lose more by a single unwise trans-

action than he has made during the entire season through

extra attention to his crops.

A number of ways of marketing are available to the

farmer. He may sell all his crop at wholesale to the

dealer or consumer ; he may dispose of it through a com-

mission man who charges a percentage for making the

sales ; he may sell on a regular market through an auction-

eer ; or he may retail his products in small parcels to the

individual consumer. No one of these methods of selling

is best in all cases. Farmers are too prone to trust to

local markets, instead of investigating every possible

place of sale.

Considerable loss accompanies the storage of most

farm products ; h^nce, the common practice of holding for

higher prices is not always to be recommended. Shrink-

age and loss often amount to more than the increase in

price received after holding for a number of months. If

prices are particularly low at harvest and indications

point to a rise later, it may pay to store. The farmer

must watch markets closely from one year to the next,

and investigate every opportunity to market his products

profitably.