FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 577 



TABLE 1. AVERAGES. 670 FARMS, JEFFERSON COUNTY, 

 NEW YORK 



Average capital $9006 



Average receipts 1890 



Average business expenses 735 



Receipts less expenses 1155 



Interest at 5 per cent 450 



Income from unpaid labor 705 



Value of unpaid labor except owner's .... 96 



Labor income 609 



The difference between receipts and expenses averaged $1155. 



This $1155 was earned by the farmer's money and the work 

 of the family. Money can readily be loaned on farm mortgages 

 at 5 per cent. Hence, only 1^705 can be said to have been earned 

 by the labor of the farmer and his family. The unpaid farm labor 

 by members of the family would have cost about $96 if it had been 

 hired, therefore the average farmer really earned $609 as wages 

 for his own work. This we call his labor income. Hired men in 

 this region get about $400, house rent, and some farm products. 

 If a farmer's labor income is less than this, he may as well lend 

 his money and hire out. 



The term " labor income " is readily understood by farmers, 

 because it is directly comparable with hired man's wages when the 

 hired man gets a house, a garden, and some farm products. I,t is 

 not so readily understood by persons in the city. Such persons 

 usually assume that the purpose of this work is to show that 

 farmers either are, or are not, getting rich too fast. The purpose 

 of this work is to determine why some farms pay better than 

 others. The aim is to compare farms with farms, not to com- 

 pare farms with the city. If one wished to make such a compari- 

 son he should have no more difficulty in comparing labor income 

 with city wages than he has in comparing farm wages for married 

 men with city wages. In either case, the person on the farm 

 receives house rent and some farm products in addition to the 

 labor income, or wages. The object of calculating labor income 



