100 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 275 



Receipts from apples and from tlie dairy enterprise are about equally im- 

 portant if sales of milk and livestock are added together. Poultry receipts, 

 amounting to nearly ii?12()() are also significant. The total cash receipts are 

 $7291. 



Among tlie expenses, grain for the various classes of livestock is the larg- 

 est item, amounting to more than half the total. Hired labor is the next 

 largest. The expense for labor includes the regular help of a boy through 

 most of the year as ^vell as extra help for peak loads like apple picking and 

 grading. Other large items are apple boxes, taxes, electricity, and auto and 

 truck expense. The total expense amounts to $3923. This does not include 

 outlay for new machinery, new buildings or other capital investments, which 

 are not considered current expense. 



Tlie net return to the farm after deducting the expenses is $3368. No al- 

 lowance has yet been made for interest on the cajjital investment. The 

 estimated value of the land, buildings, equijiment and livestock is approxi- 

 mately $25,000. If interest is figured at 5 per cent on this value, $1250 would 

 need to be deducted from the farm return of $3368. This would leave $2118 

 which may be considered to be the return for the labor and management of 

 Mr. B and his son. They have in addition various products and services which 

 the farm furnishes without further cost. 



Many farmers would consider this a reasonable return. Mr. B and his son 

 are not satisfied with their present income, however. They have some indebt- 

 edness in the farm which they wish to pay off and thej' would like to build 

 another house for the son and remodel the old house for Mr. B. Therefore 

 thev are verv anxious to increase their income. 



Possible Changes in the Farm Plan 



Mr. B, as previously stated, has already decided on his long-time program. 

 His present problem is to determine the most profitable svstem for the next 

 ten or twelve years. The possibilities that he has considered are milking 

 more cows, keeping more chickens, raising potatoes as a cash croji, or in- 

 creasing his etficiency with the present organization. 



All of the suggestions have some weak points. If he increases the num- 

 ber of cows, it will be necessary to provide more barn room and buy addi- 

 tional roughage. The farm is already producing maxinuun yields of hay and 

 silage. Building barn room will be expensive. 



Keeping more chickens will also mean building another poultry house. 

 Fiirtiiermore, the outlook for egg prices in his locality is not very good. So 

 manj- farmers in the immediate locality have increased their poultry flocks, 

 that a local surplus of eggs has existed for several years. This has tended to 

 keep local j)rices somewhat below the general level of egg prices. 



Raising potatoes as a cash crop would inean initial expense for special 

 machinery. Mr. B has never had nnich success in securing good yields of 

 potatoes on his farm in the past. Still more important would be the use of 

 several acres of crop land which is needed to produce hay. 



Mr. B has spent some time in studying his farm operations to see if his 

 efficiency can be improved enough to dispense with some hired labor. If he 

 were a younger man, it would not be necessary to hire the extra boy. But at 



