91. MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 275 



was applied to tlie orchard or hay land. No allowance has been made for 

 depreciation on the motor truck and other machinery and no provision has 

 yet been made for the purchase of new equipment. 



Possible Adjustments in the Present Plan 



Mr. A has considered various adjustments and ciianges in organization 

 which might increase his income more than his expenses. Some of his neighbors 

 have succeeded with chickens. Mr. A j)lans to keej) more poultry as soon as 

 his two small boys are old enough to care for the flock. At present he does 

 not care to go to the expense of building a new poultry house. Another 

 serious difficulty would be the labor conflict in the spring between tiie work 

 on potatoes and apples, and the young chickens. 



He has also thought of growing a larger acreage of potatoes as a supple- 

 mentary cash crop. If he were to do this, however, it would be necessary to 

 buy a potato planter and digger and hire extra help both at planting time 

 and at harvest. At present he borrows machinery from a neighbor and does 

 tlie work on the one acre of potatoes alone. The potato harvest would also 

 conflict with apple harvest. He estimates that potatoes would add very little 

 to his net income. 



Another possible change would be to increase the number of cows and hire 

 a man throughout the year to do the extra work. Mr. A has barn room for 

 about five more cows, and can raise enough more roughage to feed this num- 

 ber and the extra young stock needed for replacements. A few years ago 

 he tried making this adjustment. The following statement summarizes about 

 what happened. 



Table 4. — Extra Receipts and Expenses with Five More Cows and 

 A Hired Man — Farm A. 



Extra milk, 5 cows, 33,000 lbs. @ $2.60 „ $858 



Ext ra calves sold 24 



Extra work off the farm - 50 



Total Extra Receipts $932 



Extra purchased feed $325 



Extra hired labor 600 



Total Extra Expenses 925 



Net Return Above Extra Expenses $ 7 



In tliis statement the average production j)er cow and tlie price of milk 

 are adjusted to the same production and price as in the present organization. 

 The difference between extra receipts and expenses is very small. After try- 

 ing it out, Mr. A preferred to change to his present organization and avoid 

 the nuisance of having the extra man around when there was not enough 

 work for him. Had it been possible to add still more cows, it would have 

 been jirofitable, but this could not have been done without more barn room 

 and provision for more roughage than the farm was capable of producing. 



