EUKAL ECONOMICS. 687- 



Dipping and tick-destroying agents, II. Watkins-Pitchford {Natal A(/r. 

 Jour., 12 {1909), No. .'/. pp. J,36-J,59, pis. 2, dgms. 2).— This is a report of dip- 

 ping experiments with 14 different products. 



Most of the preparations were found to be efficient ticli killers, some of them 

 acting efficiently even when used in much higlier dilutions than was recom- 

 mended in the directions. No observations were made as to the species of tick 

 concerned in the test, although the brown tick was the subject of special notice 

 in computing the tick-killing properties of the dipping fluids. No attempt was 

 mf.de to compare the cost of the various preparations, attention having been 

 given entirely to the tick-killing properties and the safety with which applica- 

 tions could be made. 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



The problem of farm finance in its relation to permanent agriculture, B. 

 McFarland {Anil. Rpt. Mo. Bd. Agr.. J,l {1908), pp. 110-121) .—The author 

 maintains that the fundamental facts upon which the problem of farm finance 

 rests are the cost and the selling price of farm products ; that the cost of farm 

 products is measured and determined by three factors, (1) interest on the 

 investment, (2) labor incidental to growing, harvesting, and marketing the crops, 

 and (3) soil fertility removed by the crops; and that farmers in the United 

 States are not prosperous for the reason that they have to sell their products 

 for less than they cost them. 



Taking the average yields and cost per acre of corn, oats, wheat, and tim- 

 othy, the cost per bushel of grain is shown to be 57 cts., 53 cts., and $1.04, 

 respectively, while a ton of timothy costs *the average farmer $11.15 to produce. 

 On the other hand the average prices received by the farmer are 35, 28, and 70 

 cts., respectively, per bushel for the grain and $7.50 per ton for the hay. In 

 the estimate of the cost is reckoned the loss of potash, phosphoric acid, and 

 nitrogen removed by the crops, which depletes soil fertility, the value of which 

 the average farmer seldom considers. The problem of maintaining our soil 

 fertility, however, is regarded as the paramount problem of agriculture, which 

 can not be made a permanent industry until it is first made profitable. 



Among the good results mentioned that would follow the adoption of a system 

 of profitable agriculture would be the rapid increase in the number of fai-mers, 

 as a large number of wage-workers in the cities would take up farming, resulting 

 in an approach to " that ideal national state of society with a more uniform 

 distribution of population and with the greatest possible number of independent 

 producers of wealth." 



Land productivity and the diminishing profits of labor, E. Langenbeck 

 {FUhUny'a Luiidw. Zt(j., .38 {1909), Xo. 15, pp. 5.'i5-555). — Statistics are pre- 

 sented and discussed as to the factors entering into the cost of producing 

 crops, by which it is shown that a limit is soon reached in the profitable ex- 

 penditure of capital and labor on land, cultivated extensively or intensively, 

 in the production of farm products. 



The productivity of the land is the predominating factor which can not be 

 increased indefinitely even by the application of fertilizers, as the relation 

 between the cost of plant food and the yield of crops, even where the applica- 

 tion of the fertilizers has resulted in an increased yield, is measured by the 

 net returns to the farmer. The net returns, however, are shown not to increase 

 proportionately with the increased expenditures of labor and capital, and from 

 this it is argued that capital and labor can not overcome the natural limits 

 of land productivity. 

 13042—09 7 



