PRINCIPLES OF VALUE AND PRICE 453 



result of the more costly method is sufficient to more than pay the 

 difference in cost, supposing potatoes to sell as -low as 33 J cents a 

 bushel. One hundred and twenty-five bushels per acre grown at a 

 cost of $15 per acre and sold at 33 J cents per bushel yield a net profit 

 of $26 . 66 per acre. Two hundred and seventy-five bushels per acre 

 grown at a cost of $60 per acre and sold at 33^ cents per bushel yield 

 a net profit of $31 . 66 per acre. The second profit is $5 more per acre 

 than the first. 



A farmer in Van Buren County, Michigan, states that his potato 

 crop, mostly marketed in the fall, sold at an average price of 44 cents 

 a bushel for a period of ten years. At the latter price the more 

 expensive method of culture would yield a profit of $61 per acre, 

 against $40 from the cheaper method. Furthermore, some of the 

 leading potato dealers of the North have stated emphatically that a 

 better quality of potatoes is normally obtained with large yields than 

 with small. 



142. LOWER COSTS TO THE LARGE PRODUCER 



Bulletin 97 of the Experiment Station of the University of Minne- 

 sota (published also as Bulletin 48, Bureau of Statistics, United States 

 Department of Agriculture) presents figures for average costs of pro- 

 ducing crops in three representative sections of Minnesota. The 

 average size of the farms in the Halstad region was 210 acres, Marshall 

 region 2 50 acres, and Northfield region 170 acres. Similar figures were 

 secured from a single farm of 1,800 acres, typical of the large farms 

 and extensive methods of grain growing found in the Red River 

 Valley. Conditions of labor, size of fields, use of machinery, etc., 

 cause it to differ considerably from the smaller sized farms in the 

 same region. 



