INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE FARMING 167 



it pays to fertilize hay on his farm. He has followed the 

 practice for some years and expects to continue, but does 

 not think that there is any very high profit when the risk 

 and the new barns are all considered. 



These results are, of course, given to show a method of 

 business study and not to give a discussion of fertilizing 

 hay. The additional cost in fertilizing some other crops, 

 such as oats and wheat, are usually less. 



110. Crop yields on successful farms. Farms that 

 secure large yields per acre often fail to make a good profit. 

 Efficient management will bring fairly good profits with 

 ordinary production, but the highest profits come from a 

 combination of efficiency and good production. 



Of 1317 farms in one county in New York, 13 made labor 

 incomes of over $2000. The crop yields on these farms 

 averaged 27 per cent better than the average for the re- 

 gion. Part of this difference was due to the soils being 

 better than the average, and part was due to better farm- 

 ing. The average yield of hay on all farms was 1.3 tons ; 

 the most profitable farms averaged 1.6 tons. The average 

 yield of oats was 33 bushels. The most profitable farms 

 averaged 43 bushels. The potato yields on the most 

 profitable farms averaged 219 bushels. Some farms se- 

 cured much higher yields than these, but not higher profits. 

 Twelve farmers, whose labor incomes were between $1500 

 and $2000, had crop yields 34 per cent above the average, 

 so that their crops were better than the crops on the most 

 successful farms. 1 



In five townships in Livingston County, New York, there 

 were 19 farmers out of 671 who made labor incomes of 

 over $2500. On 6 of these farms, the crop yields were 

 below the average, but the crops on the 19 farms averaged 



1 New York, Cornell Bulletin 295, pp. 524 and 529. 



