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Show Which Earns Best Profit, More Land or Better Use? There comes a time with every progressive farmer when he is called upon to decide whether he will increase his acreage or use every possible means to make the land he has more productive and profitable. Shall he add another 100 acres or quarter section, or use the most modern farming methods available, eliminate waste, use highest quality seed of the best Improved varieties that money can buy, use Just the right amounts of Just the right kind of fertilizers, insecticides, fungi-cldes and herbicides where and when needed, drying and harvesting facilities to handle his seed and grain crops direct from the combine without loss of germination and quality, and in every other way bring the production of his present farm up to Its maximum. Many a farmer has learned what can be done with Improved seed. He first surveys his farm production picture. Are his grain crops of the most productive varieties of the highest market quality? Do his permanent meadows and pastures need renovating and reseeding? Is he using the most! productive corn hybrids? And1 with every other crop. Is he doing everything possible with varieties and high-quality seed to increase production and net prof its? He finds out immediately that he can't get the maximum out of Improved varieties and high quality seed without Improving the quality of the land. This usually answers the question of whether he needs more land or better, land. The place to concentrate his efforts is on his low-producirfg ','mlddle class" land. By following sound soil practices he can make It the equal of his top-yielding soil within a year or two. He saves the money that would be required to buy high-priced land on today's market and gets the greatest returns from high quality seed of Improved varieties. First, he Increases the organic matter in his soils by returning crop residues, making good use of manure, and growing deep-rooted legumes and grasses. Second, he restocks the soil's supply of plant nutrients, so his crops will be well-fed. Third, he sees that erosion control Is adequate. He keeps water runoff and soil losses at a minimum, and makes his soil a better storehouse for moisture. Last, but not least, he remembers that all of these good soil practices work together and that in the last analysis organic matter is the real mainspring and index of Soli productivity. |