168 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 193. 



Table 18. — Production and Farm Value per Acre in 1917 of the 

 Principal Tobacco States. 



Cost op Production. 



The tobacco grower has felt war conditions keenly. Prices of cloth, 

 twine, glass, fertilizer, implements, labor, paper and other materials 

 necessary in the production of tobacco have advanced very materially 

 since the war began. It costs far more to produce an acre of tobacco 

 to-day than it did prior to the war. 



The average farmer does not know what it costs to raise his crop be- 

 cause he keeps no record of expenses. Of those who endeavor to keep 

 accounts, very few enter all the items of expense in production. 



Below is an accurate cost account kept by a tobacco grower in Massa- 

 chusetts, on blanks prepared and sent out by the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College for that purpose. The expenses are for 1917 on a farm 

 comprising 50 acres of tobacco, — 35 acres of shade-grown and 15 acres 

 of primed Havana seed. He kept a separate account for each variety. 

 It cost this grower $629.38 per acre, or 74 cents a pound, to grow his 

 shade tobacco, which averaged 850 pounds to the acre. He sold on con- 

 tract for 90 cents a pound, or an average of $765 per acre. The profit was 

 $135.62 per acre. 



This cost is less than the actual expense, since it does not include 

 depreciation on wire, posts, etc., and does not cover laths and glass which 



