46 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



Should one grow the crop which yields the greatest value per acre ? 

 Not necessarily, for the crop which sells for the most may have 

 cost very much more, and the net proceeds might be relatively 

 small. Should one select the crop which yields the maximum 

 net profit per acre? There are circumstances where this would 

 be a safe rule, but as a general principle this standard fails. 

 Crops which require essentially the same amount of labor and 

 the same kind of equipment may be compared on this basis. 

 For example, oats and barley lend themselves to this basis 

 of comparison without great danger of mistakes. In case of 

 tobacco and Indian corn this would not, however, be a safe 

 basis for comparing relative profitableness for the reason that 

 the tobacco requires much more labor per acre than does the 

 corn, and one man can grow three or four times as many acres 

 of corn as of tobacco. 



Profit per hour of man labor has been suggested as a basis 

 of comparison where one crop requires much more labor than 

 another. Where the two crops conflict at all stages and require 

 the same class of labor, this may serve as a fair basis of com- 

 parison ; but where a large amount of labor is demanded on the 

 one crop at a time of year when there is no demand for labor 

 on the other crop, a serious difficulty in comparing profits is 

 introduced. For example, tobacco and corn may conflict 

 throughout the growing and harvesting season, but the corn may 

 provide more labor in the winter, utilizing the silage in the 

 dairy, at a time when no other profitable employment could be 

 found. Under these circumstances corn might add more to 

 the farmer's profit than tobacco, even though tobacco yielded 

 a higher return per hour on the average than corn. For example, 

 assume, that after paying all expenses, excepting for labor, the 

 net return left as pay for labor and managerial activity was 

 40 cents per hour for labor on corn and its utilization in the 

 dairy, and 50 cents per hour for labor on tobacco ; but that the 

 two crops were competitive during only 60 per cent of the labor 

 hours put upon corn and cows. Let us suppose, however, that 

 during the remaining 40 per cent of the time the work at which 

 the tobacco man could be employed yielded only 15 cents per 



