38 DEY-LAND GRAINS IN THE GEEAT BASIN. 



figures submitted by the farmers named have been averaged and 

 arranged in a roughly itemized form, as presented below : 



Plowing $1. 22 



Care of fallow, including all work between plowing and planting. . . 90 



Seed 57 



Planting •^^ 



Harvesting and thrashing 2. 55 



5.59 



The variations of detail in the methods practiced by the farmers 

 consulted were of such a nature that it was not possible to make a 

 more fully itemized statement than the one presented. There were 

 wide variations in the cost of each operation due to differences in 

 local conditions, but, as previously shown, the cost per acre to each 

 farmer was very near the cost to each other farmer. It is believed 

 that in most cases the farmer can safely depend on producing an acre 

 of wheat on old land for $6, when he uses his own horses and ma- 

 chinery, and for from $7 to $10 when the work is all under contract. 



Cost on new land. — The conditions existing on imbroken land vary 

 so widely that nothing more than a very rough estimate of the cost 

 of producing the first crop can be given. The expense will vary with 

 the nature and quantity of native vegetation to be removed, the time 

 at which the clearing and plowing are done, the character of the soil, 

 the supply of labor, etc. In Utah the clearing and plowing of sage- 

 brush land costs, when done under contract, from $4 to $7 per acre. 

 The care of the plowed soil and preparation of the seed bed ordiiuirily 

 cost somewhat more than the same work on old land. Planting, 

 harvesting, and thrashing cost, of course, the same as on old land. 

 It is doubtful whether an acre of wheat on new land will cost, under 

 any common conditions, more than $12. The average is about $10 

 an acre. 



PROFITS IN WHEAT PRODUCTION. 



As previously shown, the average yield obtained by the four farmers 

 quoted in Table XII was 26.65 bushels per acre. There is little doubt 

 that this yield can be produced generally in the average sections of 

 the Mountain States if the very best farming methods are practiced. 

 For a farmer who expects to begin operations in this region, however, 

 it is safer to estimate the yield at not more than 20 bushels per acre. 

 With wheat at 75 cents a bushel then, the following figures showing 

 the net profit derived from an acre of wheat on old land are considered 

 conservative : 



Twenty bushels at 75 cents 3!15. 00 



Cost of production (including 3 cents a bushel for marketing) .... 6. 60 



Net profit - 8.40 



[Cir. ei] 



