SOME PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE FARMS. 5 



some unusual condition, such as the sale of a large quantity of lum- 

 ber or a loss due to an unusual crop failure. 



Table I. — Comparative area of 200 selected farms and of all the 42^ farms in New Hamp- 

 shire of which data were obtained. 



The difference in acreage is slight, as shown in Table I. The group 

 of better farms has an average of only 21 acres more land per farm than 

 the poorer grovip and only 6 acres more of tillable land. When it is 

 considered that the labor income of the farmers on the better farms 

 averages $830 and that those farmers on the poorer farms have a 

 minus labor income averaging $341 (meaning that they are $341 short 

 of begmning to earn any pay for their own time), the small difference 

 m acreage does not seem to offer an adequate explanation for the 

 great difference in income. 



One more point is to be considered: When these same 200 farms 

 are redivided on the basis of tillable acreage, the 100 havmg the 

 largest tillable acreage have an average labor income of $311, while 

 the 100 with the smallest tillable acreage have an average of $190. 

 This would indicate that acreage is certamly one factor that counts 

 m determining the labor income, although the small difference m 

 acreage between the 100 better and the 100 poorer farms suggests that 

 it is not so important a factor as it has proved in other regions where 

 a similar study has been made. 



Table II. — Comparatire distribution of capital on 200 selected farms and on all the 428 

 farms in New Hampshire of which data were obtained. 



The poorer farms are here shown to have a little less total capital 

 than the better farms, a difference of $2.39 per farm, but this is so 

 small as to oft'er no reason for any great difference of earning i)ower 

 between the two groups. 



[Cir. LiS] 



