BULLETIN 412 



would have been about 39 cents (table 43, page 46). This was 3 cents 

 less than the average cost per hour of labor, and was practically the cost 

 per hour of all hired labor. 



TABLE 57. RETURN PER HOUR OF LABOR ON TOMATOES, ON 133 FARMS IN 1920 



* The return per hour is calculated by adding to the profit the cost of labor, and dividing by the total 

 hours worked. 



Besides the return per hour of labor, there are other factors to be con- 

 sidered in comparing the returns from different enterprises. In the case 

 of the tomato crop, probably the most important of these is competition 

 with other crops for labor. The farmers were asked with what operation 

 the work on the tomato crop conflicted. The most frequent replies were : 

 none, 80; picking peaches, 15; picking apples, 14; sowing wheat, 9; picking 

 pears, 4. 



Where large acreages of peaches, early apples, or pears are grown, 

 the tomatoes are competing for labor with crops that ordinarily are prof- 

 itable. The acreage of tomatoes grown by farmers with a considerable 

 acreage of these kinds of fruit, is usually so small that the conflict is not 

 serious. These fruits are grown most extensively in the Niagara area, 

 where the acreages of tomatoes per farm were small. 



Competition for the use of land also must be considered. The rotation 

 in which tomatoes are usually grown is: (i) a cultivated crop; (2) toma- 

 toes; (3) oats;^ (4) wheat or hay; (5) hay. If tomatoes had not been grown, 

 the crops which the farmers most commonly reported they would have 

 grown were: corn, 25; oats, 8; cabbage, 7; potatoes, 6. Corn and oats 

 ordinarily are not very profitable crops in New York. In 1920, outside 

 of some truck crops such as cucumbers andv melons which some of the 

 growers reported they would have grown, probably none of the crops 

 mentioned would have given as large a return per hour of labor as tomatoes. 



It is sometimes stated that tomatoes are valuable in the rotation due to 

 , their effect on the yield of following crops. Since in New York no crop 

 is so generally grown after tomatoes as is wheat after peas, it was impossible 

 to obtain comparable information as to this effect of tomatoes on the same 

 crop on different farms. The farmers' answers to the question as to 

 what effect they had noticed in the yields of crops following tomatoes 

 were as follows: good, 51; none, 51; bad, 16; no experience, 14. The 

 good effects were generally ascribed to the heavy fertilization given to 

 the tomato crop. 



VARIATIONS IN THE COST OF PRODUCING TOMATOES 



The variations in the cost of producing tomatoes on the 133 farms 

 are shown in table 58. Between 75 and 80 per cent of the total tonnage 



