COST OF PRODUCTION. 211 



called for, it not merely increases the product, but it 

 makes all the difference between a maximum and a 

 minimum yield. "With the wrong fertilizer or with 

 none, the cost of the grain would very likely be a 

 dollar per bushel, or more ; with the right fertilizer it 

 would probably be ten cents per bushel, or less. 



In all such cases as this, and also in every in- 

 stance where the soil is naturally and unusually rich 

 in corn-elements, and in nearly all cases of the highest 

 and best systern> of culture, the cost of production 

 could probably be brought to a lower figure than 

 the lowest in the table. 



But there are other points in the table that de- 

 serve attention. By referring to the second and 

 fourth columns it will be seen that in the first crop the 

 farmer gets fifteen bushels of corn at a nut cost of 

 eight dollars and forty cents. In the second crop he 

 gets the same, and fifteen bushels more for an addi- 

 tional cost of three dollars and forty cents ; showing 

 that the second fifteen bushels cost him less than half 

 the price of the first. In the third crop he gets the 

 first thirty bushels at the same cost as in the second, 

 and forty bushels more at an additional cost of one 

 dollar and forty cents. In the fourth crop the first 

 seventy bushels cost him the same as in the third, 

 and he gets thirty bushels more for an additional cost 

 of two dollars and eighty cents. 



It is also worth while to notice the ratio of increase 

 in the profit per acre, as compared with the amount 

 invested. Thus when in the first crop he invests twelve 

 dollars, the profit on the acre is but two dollars and 



