1!>17] RURAL ECONOMICS. 891 



cussioH uieMiod.s of teiicliing eleiiu'ntary niul intermediate courses in economics. 

 The booii: aims to bring together in an orderly arrangement (1) a store of infor- 

 mation which may profitably come within the view of the student who desires 

 to understand the economic phenomena of agriculture, and (2) a considerable 

 number of opinions which have already been expressed as to the meaning of 

 these facts." 



The author has divided the contents into the following chapters : The emer- 

 gence of the problem of agricultural economics ; consumption ; land and other 

 natural agents of agricultural production ; human effort as a factor in agricul- 

 tural production ; capital-goods as a factor in agricultural production ; organi- 

 zation and management of the agricultural enterprise; records and accounts as 

 measures of eflicient management ; principles of value and price as related to 

 farm products; market methods and problems; transportation and storage 

 facilities as factors in the marketing of farm products ; the rent and value of 

 farm land ; land tenure and land policy ; interest on farm loans ; rural cred- 

 its ; agricultural wages ; some problems of agricultural labor ; and profits in 

 agriculture. 



The relationship of New England agriculture to manufacturing, K. L. 

 BuTTEKFiELD {Trdiis. Nat. Assoc. Cotton Manfrs., No. 100 (1916), pp. 213-223).— 

 The author calls attention to the fact that agricultural products are in many 

 instances the basic products in manufacturing industries and discusses the 

 extent to which the farmers in New England can furnish such material. He 

 also calls attention to the available products as they might influence the diet 

 of the working men and tlieir families and indirectly influence the efficiency 

 of New England manufacturing industries. 



Farm management studies in eastern Nebraska, H. C. Filley {Nebraska 

 Sta. Bvl. 157 {1916), pp. 32, figs. 5). — The author's conclusions are as follows: 



" The 80-acre grain and stock farm of eastern Nebraska does not utilize man, 

 horse, or machine labor as efficiently as do farms of a larger size. The family 

 farm which provides work for approximately two men or the equivalent, seems 

 to be the most profitable. On the farms surveyed, approximately half of the 

 Avork, aside from that done by the operator, was performed by boys under 21. 



" The best paying farms found in this survey had crop yields from 15 to 30 

 per cent better than the average of all farms, while of the farms whose yields 

 were as mucli as 15 per cent below the average of their community, few gave 

 satisfactory returns. The most profitable farms included in this survey sold 

 two or three major products and from two to four minor products. Those 

 selling but one or two products were not profitable as they did not furnish 

 productive labor for a large enough part of the year. 



" If 5 per cent interest is allowed upon all capital invested by the operator, 

 owned farms returned an average labor income of $203 and tenant farms an 

 average of $806 to the operator. The better showing made by the tenant farms 

 is largely accounted for by the fact that they returned to the landlord only 3.5 

 per cent interest upon the land valuation, while the owner-operator is charged 

 5 per cent upon his valuation. The low rate of return is due primarily to the 

 security of the investment. Owned farms in Richardson county contributed 

 $509, and tenant farms $405 toward the farmers' living, in addition to the 

 ' labor income.' This is somewhat above the average of farms covered by the 

 survey. 



" Placed upon the same basis as the city wage earner, with interest upon 

 land figured at the landlord's rate of return, the average farmer of eastern 

 Nebraska receives between $1,000 and $1,200 per year for his labor and manage- 

 ment." 



