162 POTATO CULTURE. 



CHAPTER XX. 

 Cost of Production, and Profits. 



In. figuring the profits on any crop, farmers sometimes fail 

 to figure their own time as worth any thing, and perhaps 

 they throw in the use of the land also, and thus they make a 

 fair showing for the crop, as they charge it only with actual 

 cash paid out. But, how is the proper way? Your crop- 

 should be charged at least six per cent interest on the value 

 of the land, a fair price for all labor put on it, your own, or 

 that of hired help, or of your children, cost of seed and of 

 manure, and a fair price for the use of team and tools a 

 price that will pay you at least ten per cent on their cost, 

 over and above keeping. After all of these are deducted, 

 then one can begin to talk about net profits. "Figured in 

 that way, no farming would pay," some one says. I can't 

 help it ; that is the only business-like way ; ^nd if your farm- 

 ing won't stand it, it needs overhauling and improving. Now 

 let us figure a little on an average acre of potatoes in Ohio 

 the cost of production, and profits, and figure fairly, no mat- 

 ter where it hits. The Agricultural Report for 1883, in a 

 foot-note on page 405, says : "It was an excellent year, and 

 potatoes yielded about $35.00 per acre " ($34.60 to be exact). 

 We will take this as an average, although it was an excellent 

 year the best I have had since I began raising potatoes, for 

 large yield. The average yield per acre for the State was 

 about 99 bushels. This would make the average price about 

 35 cents. Now, what is the average cost of production? 

 That is not so easy to get at. I have a letter before me 

 from a farmer who says he raises about 100 bushels per acre 

 in a good season, and cultivates about the way his father 

 did before him hasn't invested in any new-fangled tools or 

 ideas and he tells me about how he manages. Perhaps we 



