2 88 



AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



and the farm enterprise, in order to reduce the wide variation in invest- 

 ment per acre in buildings designed for the same purposes. Prior to 

 a study of the cost and construction of buildings there should be 

 established standard space units to be used in determining the actual 

 building requirements of the farm for the storage of products' and 

 machinery, the housing of live stock, and the transaction of the farm 

 affairs. 



As a basis for comparing the individual farms the mean and the 

 average of the data from 21 farms are both included. The mean is 

 obtained by adding together the figures per acre for the 21 farms and 

 dividing by 21, while the average is computed by taking the total 

 investment for the 21 farms and dividing by the sum of their acreages. 

 The mean, then, is an average having the farm as a unit, while the 

 average regards the acre as the unit. In this study of farms the mean 

 is regarded as the more suggestive, since it takes into account the 

 effect of the size of the farm upon the acre investment. 



The results are given in the accompanying table. 



An examination of the figures for individual farms will show the 

 range of investment per acre in farm buildings to be from 67 cents on 

 farm 24, where a very old barn and several equally old sheds, etc., 

 constituted the building equipment, to $32 : 25 for farm 25, where the 

 value of a small barn and poultry house is divided by a small acreage. 

 The investment varies with the number and condition of buildings, 

 but the number and cost do not vary with the acreage. 



Farms 13 to 17 are similar in character and location, yet the 

 building equipment of farm 13 is $11.35 P er acre, while on Nos. 14 

 to 17, inclusive, the valuation does not reach $5 per acre on any farm. 

 This is due to the fact that farm 13 is really composed of three farms 



