ADVOCATE AND GUIDE. 155 



pends on the yield that a ten-year average should be taken 

 as a basis of production. The good yields must not only 

 pay for their own production, but also for the labor and ex- 

 pense of the poor yields and total failures. 



In all itemized cost accounts by crop experts and agri- 

 cultural colleges I have seen, the wages of the farmer has 

 been set far too low, while some of the biggest cost items and 

 many of the smaller ones were omitted entirely. In the 

 Ottawa Herald is an itemized cost of wheat crop by Mr. 

 J. M. Conard, of Ottawa, Kansas, that I believe is a fairly 

 good average of what should be included and the cost of 

 each item : 



"What is the average cost per acre for growing wheat? And does 

 the average farm break even or make money on the various farm ac- 

 tivities? 



"Farm accounting has been discussed a great deal in recent years, 

 and just now is strongly urged. Some farmers, it is claimed, lose what 

 they make in some lines by leaks or overhead expenses in others. 



" J. M. Conard, one of the enterprising farmers of Franklin County, 

 has figured out costs for some time. Recently he prepared a statement 

 of the costs per acre of growing wheat. His figures are based on the 

 1918 harvest of the 1917 sowing and the sowing of the new crop in the 

 fall of 1918. In it he has figured all items of sowing and harvesting and 

 has put in those items of overhead expense that are frequently over- 

 looked. He even charged a percentage of insurance, taxes and the like 

 to the wheat crop. 



"Mr. Conard's estimate is that wheat cost $27.68 per acre during 

 the last season, and that to make a profit a large yield was necessary. 

 A 15-bushel production per acre would allow a farmer to break even, 

 he said. His estimates are based upon the crop grown on 140 acres 

 sown in 1917 and harvested in 1918, averaging 30 pushels per acre, and 

 followed by a crop of 200 acres sown in the fall of 1918. 



"Mr. Conard prepared an article on his estimates, and this was dis- 

 tributed locally through the farm bureau. The article follows : 



" 'In undertaking to arrive at or near the exact cost of producing 

 wheat, I have followed closely the plan laid down by Prof. W. E 

 Grimes, specialist in farm management of the Kansas State Agricultural 

 College. In his investigation of the wheat industry of Sumner County 

 it was found that the yield was 17.84 bushels to the acre, and the cost 

 of producing and placing same on the market was $1.70 per bushel. In 

 that county they found on farms yielding but nine bushels to the acre 



