d improvement.

While we have many different kinds of farm crops, the cultivated soil of
the world is occupied by a very few. In our country the crop that is
most valuable and that occupies the greatest land area is generally
known as the _grass crop_. Included in the general term "grass crop" are
the grasses and clovers that are used for pasturage as well as for hay.
Next to grass in value come the great cereal, corn, and the most
important fiber crop, cotton, closely followed by the great bread crop,
wheat. Oats rank fifth in value, potatoes sixth, and tobacco seventh.
(These figures are for 1913.)

Success in growing any crop is largely due to the suitableness of soil
and climate to that crop. When the planter selects both the most
suitable soil and the most suitable climate for each crop, he gets not
only the most bountiful yield from the crop but, in addition, he gets
the most desirable quality of product. A little careful observation and
study soon teach what kinds of soil produce crops of the highest
excellence. This learned, the planter is able to grow in each field the
several crops best adapted to that special type of soil. Thus we have
tobacco soils, trucking soils, wheat and corn soils. Dairying can be
most profitably followed in sections where crops like cowpeas, clover,
alfalfa, and corn are peculiarly at home. No one should try to grow a
new crop in his section until he has found out whether the crop which he
wants to grow is adapted to his soil and his climate.

[Illustration: FIG. 182. ALFALFA IN THE STACK
This is the second cutting of the season]

The figures below give the average amount of money made annually an acre
on our chief crops:

Flowers and plants, $1911; nursery products, $261; onions, $140; sugar
cane, $55; small fruits, $110; hops, $175; vegetables, $78; tobacco,
$80; sweet potatoes, $55; hemp, $53; potatoes, $78; sugar beets, $54;
sorghum cane, $22; cotton, $22; orchard fruits, $110; peanuts, $21;
flax-seed, $14; cereals, $14; hay and forage, $11; castor beans, $6
(United States Census Report).

SECTION XXXV. COTTON

Although cotton was cultivated on the Eastern continent before America
was discovered, this crop owes its present kingly place in the business
world to the zeal and intelligence of its American growers. So great an
influence does it wield in modern industrial life that it is often
called King Cotton. Thousands upon thousands of people scan the
newspapers each day