332 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



in the United States, where opportunities for productive labor are 

 abundant and labor and capital scarce in comparison with our Euro- 

 pean competitors. 



Other conditions being equally favorable, a country in which 

 laborers and equipments are relatively scarce cannot successfully com- 

 pete in the production of crops requiring relatively large applications 

 of labor and capital, unless the product be a perishable one which will 

 not stand long shipments, or one with a very low specific value on 

 which the freight would be very high per dollar's worth of product. 

 High wages put the sugar beet industry at a disadvantage in the 

 United States and this fact points to the wisdom of our producing the 

 other crops which require less labor than beets or in the growing of 

 which European labor is not generally in competition. 



While the beet sugar industry lends itself well to illustrating the 

 necessity of studying economic forces as well as the physical and 

 biological forces with which the farmer has to deal in order that a 

 practical conclusion may be drawn, this necessity exists hi every line of 

 production. Tobacco, alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, corn, cotton, 

 potatoes, beans, grapes, apples, peaches, oranges, lemons, dairy 

 products, beef, pork, mutton, wool, and all other agricultural products 

 have to be produced where the physical environment is suitable, but 

 within these limits conditions with respect to labor, capital, markets, 

 relative profitableness of competing crops or live stock become prime 

 factors in determining what to produce in a given place. Silk and tea 

 can be produced in the United States, but on account of the difference 

 in labor conditions here and in the competing countries of the Orient, 

 these products can be imported more cheaply than they can be pro- 

 duced at home. 



104. DETERMINING THE ADAPTABILITY OF ENTERPRISES' 

 BY W. J. SPILLMAN 



One of the most important factors in determining profit in farming 

 is the adaptability of enterprises to soil and climatic conditions, and 

 especially to existing economic conditions. Adaptability to soil and 

 climatic conditions is so obvious as to need only mention here, but 

 the facts regarding adaptability to economic conditions are not so 

 well understood. 



The accompanying table gives an estimate of the average labor 

 income for one of the leading dairy counties in the state of Wisconsin 



1 Adapted from Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1913, pp. 101-5. 



