18 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



hour, day, week, or month, was beyond the 

 experience of fifty-two per cent, of the Iowa 

 farmers canvassed by the 1910 census. Forty- 

 eight per cent, of them reported expenditures 

 for labor at one time or another. They knew 

 how much hired labor cost them. But how 

 much their own labor cost, how much it was 

 worth, they did not know. And the Census 

 Bureau did not think it worth while to inquire. 



Several years ago experts of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture picked out five thousand 

 wide-awake farmers all over the country and 

 asked them to cooperate with the department 

 in running down the question of labor. How 

 much did it cost them, in time or wages, to 

 grow an acre of corn, labor to be charged at 

 prevailing rates? 



In New England an acre of corn cost 

 $16.82, not counting "rent"; in the South At- 

 lantic States, $11.29; in the Middle West, 

 from $9.10 to $6.82. 



The willow-bank farmer kindly advised 

 Jeremiah as to crops. Had he not been farm- 

 ing these acres for more than a score of years ? 

 Jeremiah took his advice. Thus custom and 

 habit determine crops. 



