No. 4.] CATTLE FOODS. 21 



Cost of an Acre of Corn in loioa. 



Interest 8 per cent or rent, $2 55 



Taxes, 34 



Crib room, 22 



Ploughing, 1 13 



Harrowing twice, 27 



Seed corn, 12 



Planting, 25 



Cultivating three times, 1 14 



Fertilizing, 88 



Cutting stalks, 22 



Husking and cribbing, 1 28 



Fencing and repairs, 19 



Total, $8 59 



Per bushel, 25 



As very few Iowa farmers count the value of fodder, we 

 may well pass over it as of little account to them. Let us 

 see what it costs to grow an acre in Massachusetts, and ask 

 ourselves what it is worth on the farm. We shall then see 

 how far the low cost of production in the West is an advan- 

 tage to us. I doubt whether any farmer in Massachusetts 

 can grow corn for less than $45 an acre. I know of cases 

 of higher cost, but they represent the highest practice. 

 Suppose we take $60 as the cost of our acre, — and that is 

 much beyond the actual facts ; what have we ? 



One hundred bushels of ear com, $45 00 



Four tons com stover, 20 00 



Total, . . . $65 00 



The value of our 100 bushels of ear corn and the value of 

 the corn stover must be set against the value of an acre of 

 pasture, and say two and a half tons of corn meal, plus the 

 cartage. If we calculate the value of corn meal at an 

 average of $22.50 in ordinary years, we can see at a 

 glance that we receive a much greater return from the 

 home-grown acre. I have assumed that the quality of the 

 bought meal is equivalent to that grown on the farm, — an 

 assumption rarely borne out in practice. 



