(2) How much larger yields may be expected on account of better methods employed? It is here that most mistakes are made in estimating possible farm profits. Necessarily, all statistical averages of production are much below those which an enterprising farmer considers an average crop and habitually produces. Not more than 50% increase upon these figures, however, should be anticipated by reason of the improved methods which one is going to employ. While the average yield of maize, even in the so-called corn states, is not far from 30 bushels an acre, and while it is quite common for good farmers to produce 60 to 75 bushels of maize per acre, it would not be safe to assume a yield of more than 45 bushels unless the conditions are more than ordinarily favorable. The application of the averages given on pages 149-150 to an individual farm enterprise may be illustrated by calculating the possible results which might be obtained on 80 acres of arable land in Iowa and Pennsylvania with the four great soil products of northern United States. Iowa Pennsylvania Acres Income Acres Income Maize 40 $552.00 15 $340.85 Oats 20 185.60 15 200.25 Wheat 5 62.10 15 249.25 Hay 15 151.95 35 655.90 Total 80 $951.65 80 $1,446.25 If 50% is added for the increased yields which may be expected on account of the employment of better methods, the total yield from 80 acres of arable land would become for Iowa $1,428 and for Pennsylvania $2,169. This does not mean that farming is necessarily more profitable in Pennsylvania than in Iowa. Not only may the cost of cultivating an acre of arable land be greater in Pennsylvania, but usually a larger territory must be owned in order to obtain 80 acres of arable land. Eighty acres of these four crops is probably as often grown on a farm of 100 acres in Iowa as on one of 160 acres in Pennsylvania. The total farm acreage in Iowa is, in round numbers, 35 millions; in Pennsylvania, 19 millions. In Iowa about one-half the farm area is in the farm crops under consideration, while in Pennsylvania these four crops occupy only one-third the farm area. [Illustration: Mr. R. D. Maurice Wertz, after several years in railroad offices, took charge of his fathers farm at Quincy, Pa., in 1891, and converted it into a fruit farm. He now has about 220 acres in peaches and apples. It is understood that he has sent from the above shipping station and one other about $200,000 worth of fruit in the last six years.]