144 FARM MANAGEMENT 



and $65 for other costs. 1 This bulletin is a notable ex- 

 ception to the usual run of dairy bulletins that ignore all 

 costs except feed. 



Nearly all colleges, as well as farmers, speak of the 

 difference between the cost of fertilizer or any other 

 treatment and the value of the increased crop as profit 

 from the treatment. How far the cash cost of fertilizer 

 may be from the total cost of the increased crop is shown 

 on page 1G4. 



Profit per acre is usually considered rather than profit 

 per farmer. All these and many other errors in arithmetic 

 and business judgment often lead to the recommendation 

 of methods that are entirely too intensive for present 

 conditions. Farmers are gradually using more intensive 

 methods, as prices of farm products and other conditions 

 make such methods profitable. But it rarely pays a 

 farmer to follow the revolutionary advice of the enthu- 

 siast who has just returned from Europe. America may 

 waste land. Europe wastes labor. 



Whenever the word profit or net profit is used in this 

 book, it is used correctly. It means profit after all ex- 

 penses of every kind have been subtracted. 



99. Theory of limitation of land. The usual assump- 

 tion of nearly all writers is that the land available for the 

 individual farmer is limited and that the profits that he 

 can make are directly proportional to the production per 

 acre. This mistaken idea seems to be firmly grounded in 

 the minds of agricultural writers and speakers. One col- 

 lege has issued a circular in which the opening sentence 

 is, " The amount of milk and butter fat produced per acre 

 is, generally speaking, the final test of profitable dairying 

 where all feed is raised on the farm." 



1 Connecticut, Bulletin 73. 



