150 



FAliM MANAGEMENT 



per acre, it would appear as if this farmer should plant 

 more apple trees, because apples gave him over six times 

 the profit per acre that he secured from oats and hay. 

 But for the time spent on it, timothy hay gave three times 

 as much profit as the apple orchard. The word profit 

 is here used in the correct sense. The hay paid for the 

 use of the land, use of buildings, use of horses, machinery, 

 all labor, interest on these costs for the time the money 

 was invested, and all other costs, and, in addition, left 

 a profit of 63 cents for each hour of labor. If we add this 

 to the labor cost of 18 cents an hour, we find that the hay 

 paid all expenses except labor, and paid 81 cents an hour 

 for labor or $8.10 for each ten-hour day spent on it. The 

 orchard paid $4.10 for a similar day. In addition, this 

 was known to be an average year for hay and oats and 

 an extra good year for the orchard. 



TABLE 25. COMPARISON OF RECEIPTS AND PROFIT PER ACRE 

 WITH PROFIT PER HOUR OF JJABOR 



After studying these figures, the farmer very wisely 

 decided to go in debt for another farm so that he could 

 raise more oats, wheat, and hay. He preferred to sell 

 his labor to the crops that paid best for it. The wisdom 

 of this procedure was shown by the results of the next 

 three years, for he made more than he could have made 

 in twice the time with the small farm. 



