254 COST OF PRODUCTION AND FARM ACCOUNTING 



Distribution of Cost Per Acre in Dollars and in Per Cents of Minnesota Crops, 



1908-1912 Continued 

 Oats: 



Labor $7.39 49.8 per cent 



Land rental 3.83 25.8 



Machinery 1.29 8.7 



General expense 1.04 7.0 



Seeds 96 6.5 



Twine 33 2.2 



Barley: 



Land rental 3.83 50.9 



Labor 1.64 22.0 



Machinery 935 12.4 



General expense 696 9.3 



Seed 41 5.4 



Cash threshing 64 5.9 



Twine 185 1.7 



Corn (husked from standing stalks): 



Land rental 3.83 35.5 



Labor 3.36 31.3 



Seed 1.37 12.7 



Machinery 74 6.9 



General expense 658 6.0 



Miscellaneous Factors. The cost of- producing crops depends 

 on a number of factors, among which are weather conditions and 

 crop yields. A record showing costs of production should contain 

 tables giving annual precipitation and temperatures during the 

 crop season. Crop yields should also be presented in appropriate 

 tables. In considering farm wages, the cost of board should be 

 added to the wage. The item of "general expense" is used to 

 cover insurance, taxes, and labor and other expenses which are 

 not chargeable to any one crop or productive enterprise. 



Losses in Soil Fertility. Loss in soil fertility caused by crop 

 production is not a proper charge in cost-of-production data. 

 Where such a loss occurs, there is no proper basis for calculating 

 the loss. Some crops, such as clover and other legumes, restore 

 nitrogen to the soil. The soil cannot be compared with machinery, 

 horse-power or buildings which depreciate constantly, regardless 

 of management, while the soil may be kept up and even enriched 

 by proper management. It is a well-known fact that there are 

 many fields in use to-day in the Old World which have been in use 

 since a thousand years ago, and yet which have more fertility now 

 than they had then at any rate their yield is many times greater 

 now. 2 It is neither feasible nor desirable to consider loss of fertility 



2 "We had long desired to stand face to face with Chinese and Japanese 

 farmers; to walk through their fields and to learn by seeing some of their 

 methods, appliances and practices which centuries of stress and experience 

 have led these oldest farmers in the world to adopt. We desired to learn how 

 it is possible, after twenty and perhaps thirty or even forty centuries, for their 

 soils to be made to produce sufficiently for the maintenance of such dense 

 populations as are living now in those countries. We have now had this 

 opportunity, and almost every day we were instructed, surprised, amazed at 



