EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 81 



In conclusion I wish to say that in my opinion the earning capacity 

 of an 80-acre farm devoted to dairying as I have figured it is only well 

 within reason for each instance, and that which can easily and surely 

 be accomplished year after year by any careful and intelligent dairy 

 farmer. As for the possibilities of an 80-acre farm devoted to dairying, 

 none of us have any conception of them. Only a practical demonstration 

 could determine this truly, yet I do not doubt in the least that these 

 possibly profits on either of the hypothetical farms I have mentioned could 

 be made to reach three times the figures I have set forth. 



I am led to believe this by the fact that Mr. Detrich, a Pennsylvania 

 minister, took up the management of an old 15-acre farm that was so 

 run down and worn out that it would not support well the two cows and 

 one horse that were kept upon it. Mr. Detrich converted it into a dairy 

 farm and the first year lacked $46 of paying expenses, but in the six years 

 that followed he cleared up a $7,200 mortgage. So greatly had the land 

 been improved that at the end of this time 30 head of stock, 17 of which 

 were milk cows and two were horses, were being provided with all the 

 roughage they needed and 3,300 tons of hay were sold. The outlay for 

 concentrated feeds was about $625 a year. It has been estimated that this 

 farm of 15 acres produces a revenue of about $3,000, or $200 per acre, 

 annually. Doing one-half as well on good Iowa land as has been done 

 on worn out and reclaimed Pennsylvanian land, 80 acres would produce 

 a revenue of $8,000. 



Up in Michigan is another farm, according to the Department of Agri- 

 culture, containing 120 acres, owned by Mr. J. N. Neal, whose total in- 

 vestment in the farm and his share of the dairy herd and farm equip- 

 ment Is $12,500. He receives annually $1,500, or 12 per cent on his money 

 invested and gives the farm management no attention whatever. Mr. 

 C. J. Augerine, the manager, who owns half the herd and the farm imple- 

 ments also received $1,500 as his share, so the 120-acre tenant farm re- 

 turns annually $3,000 clear profit. 



The President : We have a little time, if any one wishes to 

 ask any questions, I am sure the writer of the paper would be glad 

 to answer them. 



Question: "What difference would it make if the farmer would 

 make his own butter? 



Mr. Van Pelt : That would depend on whether he was making 

 his own butter near a large city. If he were, he could on a high 

 class product get a premium of 10 to 15 cents per pound. It is 

 not exceptional for dairy farmers to have yearly contracts in large 

 cities to furnish butter from 35 to 40 cents a pound. In New York 

 State, I think, it is not an exception to have the wholesale price 50 

 cents per pound. It would be simply owing to the prices it were 

 possible to obtain for it. 



