I!'-'"] RURAL ECONOMICS. 489 



(HI IxniK Island mid of whole iiiilU by iirodiicers supplying New York CMty, sire 

 dt'scril)('<l. 



The (livisiou of farm iiu-oine between landlord and tenant, J. D. Br.ACic 

 (Anier. Assoc. A(ir. Ley. liul. 6 {l!t20), pp. 6-21). — The operation of demand and 

 supply in rent determination is diseussed. The objection is offered that com- 

 jtetltion is not free, owing to economic friction as a result of the inflexibility of 

 tlie farm business, circumstances tending to keep the right tenant fi'om getting 

 on the right farm, the bargaining skill of the landlord or tenant, and custom, 

 also that monopoly power is possible. It is said, however, that true economic 

 rents probably more nearly prevail in the cornbelt than elsewl)ere. 



A table is included, illustrating the margin of variation between economic 

 rents and land valuation on 39G cash-rented farms in southwestern Wisconsin, 

 and figures are quoted from Minnesota (E. S. R., 41, p. 93) and Iowa (E. S. R., 

 34, p. 193) studies in the same connection. It is claimed that in the absence of 

 statistical method, which in itself presents certain difficulties, cash-rent rates 

 will be best determined by prospective net incomes, competition, and bargaining 

 rather than by land values. 



Two fiiKd suggestions offered for the determination of share rental are (1) 

 to follow the custom of the community as far as possible and when not possible 

 to make allowance for it in some other part of the lease, and (2) to count the 

 tenant's labor and management, family labor and hired labor, interest, taxes, 

 depreciation, and upkeep on his ec]uii)ment as equal to the landlord's manage- 

 nit'ut, interest, taxes, upkeep, and depreciation on real estate and equipment, 

 ■ ther expenses to be divided half and half, estimating their amounts in advance 

 Ml settling afterwards. 



Aftficulture and prices, J. D. Willaiu) (Jvitr. Farm. Econ., 2 (1U20), No. 2, 

 III). 10-S2). — An account is given of problems of price levels under peace-time 

 conditions, using as an illustration difficulties of price fixing in the New England 

 milk industry before and during the war. Difficulties of competition with 

 city buyers between farmers' plants, of buyers' control over shipping facilities, 

 with so-called agricultural bankrupt!?, and over the growing public opinion 

 unfavorable to the privilege of collective bargaining are noted in the discus- 

 sion of farmers' cooperative ownership of producing and distributing plants. 

 The author endorses cost of production studies for educational purposes, but 

 maintains that accurate determination of agricultural costs is impossible, mar- 

 ginal costs being therefore necessarily the basis of price fixing. 



[Statement of the United States Wheat Director at the Trade Confer- 

 enrel, J. H. Barnks (Chicayo: Trade Conf., 1920, pp. 11). — This outlines 

 briefly the protection to the producer afforded by Government price regulation. 



Influence of depreciation of e.vchange on agricultural production, A. E. 

 Tayi.ok {U. a. Dcpt. Ayr. Yearbook 1919, pp. 189-196). — Unrest of European 

 pea.sants and uncertainty on the part of producers in both importing and ex- 

 porting regions as to the agricultural program for the spring of 1920 is attrib- 

 uted to the instability of exchange. The problemi of purchasing wheat on 

 credit is said to be urgent alike to buying and selling nations. Three factors, 

 (1) the depreciation of currency, to which the price of the imported article is 

 directly (or more than directly) proportional, (2) the elevated prices of do- 

 mestic conmiodities, and (3) the wage level of the workers, complicate the 

 situation. 



It is noted that Europeans are demanding payment in commodities in prefer- 

 ence to gold, and that everywhere there is a necessity of return to normal agri- 

 cultural practices. 



Some fundamental problems in marketing farm products, G. Livi.Nii- 

 BTON {Jour. Farm Econ., 2 {1920), No. 2, pp. 83-86). — Reasons are given for a 



