The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should KnowHunt, Thomas Forsyth
Science
The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know
Hunt, Thomas Forsyth
Agriculture
(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.
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