452 



AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



cantaloupes, strawberries, watermelons, onions, and potatoes from 

 time to time. Large acre profits have induced more and more 

 specialization in the particular product, till at length the markets are 

 swamped and the whole industry made unremunerative. If it be an 

 annual crop, the difficulty soon rights itself by curtailment of acreage. 

 But in the case of orchard products that have been five, ten, or even 

 fifteen years in being developed, readjustment is more difficult. 

 EDITOR. 



C. Some Phases of Cost of Production 



141. DECREASING COSTS tHSTDER INTENSIVE METHODS 1 

 BY LAWRENCE G. DODGE 



The following table represents the usual expense of growing an 

 acre of potatoes in Aroostook County, Maine, and in many parts of 

 Michigan and Wisconsin. In fact, the second column of figures will 

 represent the expense put into growing the crop in most localities 

 where potato growing is carried on on a less expensive and thorough- 

 going basis. 



COST OF PRODUCING ONE ACRE OF POTATOES IN MAINE AND IN 



WISCONSIN 



The more expensive method of growing potatoes usually gives a 

 yield of 275 bushels or more to the acre. Unless an application of 

 barnyard manure is made in addition to the expense estimated, at 

 an added cost of from $5 to $10 per acre, the less expensive method 

 rarely produces more than 125 bushels per acre and in a great many 

 instances less than 100 bushels per acre. The increase in yield as a 



1 Adapted from Farmers' Bulletin 365, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 pp. 20-22. 



