THE FARMER OF YESTERDAY 23 



fourteen in corn; and two in oats, and two in 

 hay to feed the horses that cultivate the corn. 

 Thus nine out of fourteen acres go for corn, 

 directly or indirectly. 



Jeremiah has a good year, an average year. 

 Sunshine and rain are kind to him. Bugs and 

 blight are kept at a respectful distance. His 

 corn is worth fourteen dollars an acre. 



The average, in his neighborhood, has been 

 $11.54 since the time when the first cultivated 

 hog was dressed for market. Five staple 

 crops in his neighborhood average less than 

 fourteen dollars. The ten staple crops of the 

 United States that account for ninety-five per 

 cent, of the three hundred and ten million 

 acres which the farmer actually plows (wheat, 

 corn, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, 

 tobacco, hay, and cotton) have varied from 

 $16.42 in 1909 (when the cost of living became 

 academic) to $7.94 in 1896. The average 

 acreage return has been $12.04 since the dawn 

 of statistics, forty-five years ago. That means 

 the cultivated acre, not the scrub one. 



So you see Jeremiah is rather successful, in 

 spite of his years as a consumer. 



Jeremiah opens his books and strikes a 

 balance in red ink! 



