COST OF PEODUCTION. 201 



cost him, and not merely this, but also upon his know- 

 ing the cost. In fact, without this knowledge, all the 

 business of his farm is at loose ends, and all the oper- 

 ations he embarks in are involved in uncertainty. 



It is easy to perceive that the cost of producing 

 this crop must necessarily exhibit a marked diversity 

 in different sections of the country, and this is espe- 

 cially noticeable in comparing the expenses of corn- 

 culture at the East with those of the West. But 

 there are also other causes of difference, so numerous 

 and pervading, that it is a rare circumstance to find 

 any two estimates in all respects alike, even in the 

 same section or neighborhood. 



For the purpose of comparison and reference, we 

 here submit a few statements and estimates relating 

 to the expense of corn-culture in the various sections 

 of the country that have been reported during the 

 past two decades. 



In the Transactions of the New York State Agri- 

 cultural Society for 1848, Levi T. Marshall, of Oneida 

 County, is reported to have raised eighty-seven bush- 

 els per acre, on two acres of ground, at a cost of sev- 

 enteen and three-fourths cents per bushel, making the 

 expense per acre equal to fifteen dollars and forty-four 

 cents. 



A farmer in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., at a 

 later date, reports the cost of his crop to the Country 

 Gentleman at twenty-seven cents per bushel, and six- 

 teen dollars and sixty-six cents per acre. 



Another farmer, of Shelburne, Mass., in a commu- 

 nication to the same journal, states that the cost of 

 9* 



