GRAIN AND HAY FARMING
An important and primary factor in the production of all wealth is labor. Aside from the professional and domestic classes, the people of the world devote themselves to three forms of work: (1) Changes in substance, or natural products; (2) changes in form, or mechanical products; (3) changes in place, or exchange of products. The second of these forms of work gives rise to manufacturing; the third, to trade and commerce. Under the first sub-division two classes of natural products may be recognized; first, what, for want of a better name, may be called chemical products, such as ores, coal and salt, from which are derived mining and the metallurgical arts; and second, vital products, or, in other words, vegetation and animals. It is work applied to the production of vegetation and animals that gives rise to agriculture. Agriculture is labor applied to the production of living things.
KINDS OF AGRICULTURE
The industries which deal with the production of living things may be divided, theoretically, largely on the basis of the character of the results, but to some extent upon the nature of the activities involved.
The manner in which this theoretical classification has worked out in actual practice will be indicated in some measure by the inquiries of the United States Census Bureau. The twelfth census has classified farms on the basis of their principal income. If 40% or more of the gross income of the farm was from dairy products, it was called a dairy farm; if from live stock, a live stock farm; if from cotton, a cotton farm. If no product constituted 40% of the gross receipts, the farm was classified as a miscellaneous or general farm.
In 1900 there were 5,740,000 farms in the United States, which were, according to the rule just stated, classified as follows:
FARMS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PRINCIPAL
SOURCE OF INCOME
| Gross | ||||
| Average | income | |||
| Total area, | size | per | ||
| Kind of farm. | acres. | Number. | acres. | farm. |
| Hay and grain | 210,243,000 | 1,320,000 | 159 | $760 |
| Vegetables | 10,157,000 | 156,000 | 65 | 665 |
| Fruits | 6,150,000 | 82,000 | 75 | 915 |
| Live stock | 335,009,000 | 1,565,000 | 227 | 788 |
| Dairy produce | 43,284,000 | 358,000 | 120 | 787 |
| Tobacco | 9,574,000 | 106,000 | 90 | 615 |
| Cotton | 89,587,000 | 1,072,000 | 84 | 430 |
| Rice | 1,088,000 | 6,000 | 190 | 1,335 |
| Sugar | 2,689,000 | 7,000 | 363 | 5,317 |
| Flowers and plan | ts 43,000 | 6,000 | 7 | 2,991 |
| Nursery products | 166,000 | 2,000 | 82 | 4,971 |
| Miscellaneous | 113,144,000 | 1,059,000 | 107 | 440 |
| ----------- | --------- | --- | ----- | |
| Total | 844,000,000 | 5,740,000 | 147 | $656 |
Including miscellaneous or general farms, there are just a dozen kinds of farms mentioned. Of this number, nine kinds obtained at least 40% of their products, and probably much more, from vegetable rather than from animal forms. However, live stock and dairy farms constitute about one-third of the total number of farms, and almost one-half the farm acreage. There are four kinds of farms on which the production of grain and hay forms an important part of their activities; namely, the hay and grain farm, the live stock farm, the dairy farm, and general farm. These constitute, in the aggregate, 75% of the farms of the United States, and by virtue of their larger area, they occupy 85% of the total farm area.
GRAIN AND HAY STATISTICS
At the close of the nineteenth century less than one-half the area of the United States was owned in farms. Only one-half of this farm area was considered to be under cultivation. The total area in cereals was one-tenth the total land area, while 3% was devoted to hay and 2% to all other crops except pasture.
Without going into details, it may be stated with reasonable assurance that: (1) During the last half of the last century, the production of cereals has increased much faster than the population. For example, in 1850, there were raised in the United States one ton of cereal grains per capita; by 1900 this amount had increased to one and one-half tons for each inhabitant.
(2) Since the number of persons engaged in agriculture has decreased in proportion to population, the quantity of cereals produced in proportion to persons engaged in agriculture has increased in still greater ratio. So far, therefore, as the amount of cereals is concerned, the farmer has been getting an increasingly larger return for his labor.
(3) The quantity of cereals has increased in proportion to the arable land. This may be due to one or more of three causes: (a) greater average yield per acre; (b) greater proportion of cereals to other crops; or (c) to a change in the ratio of the different cereal crops. The following table, giving the average yield of grain, reduced to pounds per acre, shows not only how the substitution of one cereal for another might affect the total production of cereal grains, but also suggests to the young farmer how he may modify the total product of his farm:
| Yield | Lb. | Lb. | |
| in bu | per bu. | per acre | |
| Maize | 24.2 | 56 | 1355 |
| Barley | 23.7 | 48 | 1138 |
| Rye | 15.0 | 56 | 840 |
| Oats | 26.2 | 32 | 838 |
| Wheat | 13.2 | 60 | 792 |
| Rice | Paddy | 746 | |
| Buckwheat | 14.0 | 48 | 672 |
Yields will vary relatively in different regions and with different types of soil, and should be studied with reference to ones conditions.
(4) The wheat and oat crops have increased about six and one-half times in 50 years, the hay crop five and one-half times, while maize has increased four and one-half times. Cotton, the only other great staple crop, has increased four times in the same period. The oat crop has increased the most rapidly of any since 1880. It is interesting, and may be significant, to note that, while the production of wheat and barley in Great Britain has decreased about one-half in thirty years, the production of oats has increased somewhat.
(5) The greatest rate of increase in the production of cereals in the United States during the last half century has taken place since 1870. This increase is coincident with three other facts of the utmost importance: (a) The development of the central West, a treeless plain—prior to this period much of the farm land in the United States had been hewn out of the forest, tree by tree; (b) the consolidation of the steam railways into transcontinental lines; and (c) the introduction of the self-binding harvester. Formerly it took at least five men to do what is done today by one man in the harvesting of cereals.
ADVANTAGES OF GRAIN FARMING
(1) The cost of land excepted, the production of hay and grain requires a small outlay of money. During the past fifty years, many thousands of persons have been able to obtain farms of 160 acres at almost no cost. With a few hundred dollars invested in horses and tools with which to plow the prairie and sow the seed, these fortunate persons have oftentimes been able to pay the whole of their expenses, capital included, from the first crop. The renter who operates a hay and grain farm usually has but a small capital invested in his business.
(2) The cereals bring a quick return. Wheat may be sown in September and sold in July; maize may be planted in May and sold in November; oats may be planted in April and sold in August. The short period between seed time and harvest makes the oat crop a favorite one among renters. On the other hand, it takes from three to seven years to produce a marketable horse. It may take ten to fifteen years to begin to realize on an apple orchard.
(3) The products are not easily perishable, and hence can be held almost indefinitely. The development of the magnificent elevator system, based upon the principle that the cereals can be handled like water, greatly simplifies the holding and preservation of these staple products.
(4) The products are in constant demand, and hence they always find a market.
Agricultural commodities may be divided into three classes, depending upon the area which controls the price of the commodity, as follows: (a) price units world-wide, as wheat, cotton, pork; (b) price units local to large districts—products too bulky to ship long distances—such as hay, potatoes and apples; (c) price units local to relatively small areas, such as strawberries and green vegetables. It is obvious that the larger the area which controls the price, the more constant will be the demand.
OBJECTIONS TO GRAIN FARMING
(1) It exhausts the soil. About two-thirds of the wheat of the United States is consumed outside the county in which it is raised.
(2) It requires a large quantity of land to produce a competence. Land must be low in price, or the interest on the money invested in the land will consume the profits. The relation of crop to income is suggested by comparing the gross returns from an acre of potatoes or tobacco with an acre of maize. The average gross income during a decade was, from an acre of maize, $9.50; an acre of potatoes, $38; and from an acre of tobacco, $61.50.
(3) Only such part of the land as is suited to tillage can be used.
(4) The marketing of cereals requires the transportation of bulky products. Hay is handicapped much more seriously. The distance a product can be shipped depends somewhat on the price per pound received for it. If it costs one cent a pound to ship maize to a grain market, obviously it cannot be transported without loss when it brings only 50 cents a bushel. On the other hand, two cents a pound may easily be paid for shipping butter which is worth 25 cents a pound. The transportation of $2,000 worth of maize to a railway station ten miles distant is a laborious and expensive operation, but when this same maize is turned into beef or pork, it will transport itself to the station with comparatively little trouble. Notwithstanding the excellent transportation facilities which the farmers of the United States enjoy, 80% of the maize is consumed in the county in which it is raised. Cereal production demands better transportation facilities than cotton farming, tobacco growing or the rearing of domestic animals.
(5) Capital must lie idle much of the time. The self-binding harvester or the hay rake is only used a few weeks, or perhaps more often only a few days, each year. A cream separator or a churn may be used every day in the year. In the first instance, there is not only interest on unemployed capital, but the capital is actually deteriorating through nonuse.
(6) The production of hay and grain does not give continuous employment. The slightest consideration of the following table must show that unless live stock is kept, there are considerable periods of the year in which very little labor is required, while at other times considerable work is necessary to prevent loss.
TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE ACREAGE PER
FARM OF PRINCIPAL CROPS.
| New York | Ohio | Wisconsin | Virginia | |
| Maize | 3 | 13 | 9 | 11 |
| Wheat | 2 | 12 | 3 | 6 |
| Oats | 5 | 4 | 14 | 1 |
| Barley, rye or buckwheat | 2 | -- | 5 | 0 |
| Hay and forage | 23 | 11 | 14 | 4 |
| Potatoes, beans or other vegetables | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Fruits | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Miscellaneous crops | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Pasture, wood or unimproved land | 58 | 45 | 70 | 93 |
| --- | -- | --- | --- | |
| Total size of farm | 100 | 89 | 117 | 119 |
(7) Much depends upon natural forces. While there is opportunity for the use of knowledge and judgment in the production of high-grade seeds and even of large yields, there is not the same scope for skill that there is in some other lines of agricultural enterprise. Skill means the capacity to do something difficult, and the more effort required to produce an object the more value it has, provided its utility is unlimited. The farming which requires the most skill pays the best if one has the skill to apply to it. This is because those who do not have the requisite skill are usually unsuccessful.