144 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.- 



funds should be invested in equipment and working capital but are 

 all invested in real estate. Such cases are almost always extremely 

 pathetic. The amount of equipment necessary on a given sized farm 

 necessarily varies with the type of farming practiced on that farm. It 

 is the exceptional man who can make wages with a farm business so 

 small that his equipment (teams, tools, live stock, feed, supplies and 

 ready money) is valued less than 11,500. The average man with average 

 conditions does not do it. If we make a similar division of these 98 

 farms based on the number of animal units* on the farm, we have the 

 following chart: 



Chart B3. 



Under 8 animal units, 16 farms, average |8 labor income. 



S-11.0 animal units, 27 farms, average 131 labor income. 



12-14.9 animal unjts, 23 farms, average 2G0 labor income. 



15-18 animal units, 13 farms, average 235 labor income. 



Over IS animal units, 17 farms, average 39(j labor income. 



This chart harmonizes with and emphasizes charts Bl and Ij2. They 

 bring out the point that the farmer who is able to manage a large busi- 

 ness and has a large business to handle make a better labor income, a 

 larger wage per hour, than the farmer who has a small business. This 

 is true in Newaygo county — it is true everywhere. In other areas, some 

 other measures of size are found necessary to show this same principle. 

 In an exclusively dairy region the number of cows kept is a good 

 measure of size. In an exclusively fruit region, the gross receipts or 

 the number of productive work days furnished by the farm business 

 might be taken as a convenient measure of size of business. 



QUALITY OF FARM BUSINESS. 



In addition to having good size of business, it is just as necessary to 

 have a good quality of farm business; that is, good crops must be raised, 

 a good quality of live stock must be kept and maximum results must' 

 be secured from both horse and man labor employed on the farm. The fol- 

 lowing chart shows how good jdelds alfect the labor income of the 

 Fremont farmers. In this chart we have taken the average yield for 

 the community for that season as 100%. Each crop raised is rated on 

 this basis and the average of these ratings makes the rating given the 

 farm. 



Chart CI. 



22 farms with less than 86% yields have average labor income of. |74 



18 farms with 86%-96% yields have average labor income of . . . . 150 



10 farms with 96%-104% yields have average labor income of . . . . 154 



22 farm-s with 105%-114%. yields have average labor income of . . . . 316 



24 farms with over 115% yiehls have average labor income of . . . . 284 



*An animal unit is 1 horse or 1 cow or 5 hogs or 7 sheep or 100 hens: 2 growing animals equals 

 one mature animal of the same class. 



