cultivated crops. The other third of the improved land and a
considerable portion of that half of the farm area known as unimproved
land are utilized as pasture for domestic animals.

(2) They make use of farm crops which would be entirely or partially
wasted. Straw, the stalks of maize, clover and alfalfa hay and other
leguminous forage crops would not have sufficient value to pay for
raising if animals were not kept to convert them into useful products.
In fact, the usefulness of a given animal may be judged by the economy
with which he converts these otherwise useless products into food or
other materials for the use of man. The most profound studies are
being made to determine the conditions under which this takes place.

(3) In thus acting as machines in manufacturing raw materials into
finished products animals convert these coarse and bulky materials
into those which are much more concentrated, thus making their
transportation economically possible. A pound of beef has required
food containing ten pounds of dry substance, and a pound of butter has
required thirty pounds of dry matter to produce it.

These refined products may be shipped around the world, while the raw
materials may not be profitably transported beyond the county in which
they are raised. Moreover, the farmer has the profit which comes from
manufacturing the raw materials into refined products.

(4) In the production of these finer products much of the essential
materials of plant growth are left upon the farm. The experiments of
Lawes and Gilbert show conclusively that in fattening animals more
than nine pounds out of ten of the essential fertilizing ingredients
of the food reappear in the solid and liquid excrements. Prothero
says: "Farming in a circle, unlike logic, is a productive process."

The fiscal policy of one of the great nations of the globe is based
upon this idea. Everything possible is done by Germany to encourage
the keeping of live stock, because the more live stock that is kept,
the more productive will be the soil. The larger the crops raised the
more people will be required to harvest them and the larger will be
the population to recruit the army and navy. The Kaiser and the German
scientist recognize that the fighting force of the Empire is related
to the number of domestic animals reared. The meat supplies of the
people are, therefore, taxed to bring about this end.

(5) The rearing of live stock makes it possible to ar