WHAT AN ACRE MAY PRODUCE 51 



It would be the greatest blessing to our day laborers if 

 they could secure an acre of land which they could till in 

 conjunction with their other labor. If time and change so 

 works upon society as to put the laborer out of a job, he will 

 be safe in his acre home and can live from it and be happy 

 and contented. 



The time required to cultivate an acre is much less than 

 is generally supposed. 



The maximum tune required seems to be that given in 

 the University of Illinois Experiment Station at Urbana, 

 Bulletin 61, by J. W. Lloyd, at the rate of 140 hours (say 

 14 days) with one horse and 250 hours (say 25 days) for 

 hand labor. With a great variety of crops, or with poor 

 labor add one half to this time allowance. The results vary 

 greatly. 



An acre of northeastern Long Island will produce 250 to 

 400 bushels of potatoes at a selling price of fifty to seventy- 

 five cents per bushel, which wholesale, at those figures 

 much below present prices, bring an income of $125 to $300 

 to the grower. The actual cash outlay in one instance was : 



Seed Potatoes $10.00 



Commercial Fertilizer 13.00 



Spraying for blight and pests 4.00 



$27.00 



250 bu. selling at the minimum price $125.00 



Less the cash outlay 27.00 



Income to the grower from an acre $98.00 



A production of 400 bushels costs no more cash outlay 

 per acre, while the income is big wages to the farmer. 1 



1 If but one acre be grown and hand labor is used, the labor might 

 cost an average of $40 per acre, with wages at $1.35 to $1.50 per 

 day, and if the produce is shipped any distance by rail and con- 



