600 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



150- to 200-acre farms. The advice is also constantly given that 

 farmers turn to truck growing. The supply of truck crops is 

 easily overdone. It is usually unwise to grow truck crops unless 

 both the soil and the markets are particularly adapted to such 

 crops. The vast majority of our farmers must continue to produce 

 wheat, milk, hay, oats, potatoes, and the general farm crops. 

 Such advice is usually given under the impression that small 

 farms and truck crops will reduce the cost of living in cities. 

 Under American conditions, the fair-sized farms produce farm 

 products at least cost, so that the little farm is not desirable from 

 any standpoint. Farmers are quick to respond whenever any type 

 of farming promises greater profits. They change to truck 

 growing wherever conditions warrant the change. 



A farm of 1 to 20 acres makes an excellent home if one has 

 some other source of income, but a general farm of this area is 

 a very poor business. A farm is a place to work. The man who 

 buys a farm buys a permanent job. If the farm is not large 

 enough to provide a fair amount of productive work, it must of 

 necessity be a very poor business. 



RELATION OF CROP YIELDS TO PROFITS 



Relation of crop yields to labor income. In. order to determine 

 the influence that yield per acre of crops has on profits, the yields 

 on each farm were expressed on a percentage basis with 100 per 

 cent representing the average yield of the region. The footnote 

 to the table on page 601 gives the method of making the calcu- 

 lations. On some farms the larger yields are due to better soil, 

 on others they are due to better methods of farming. 



An average crop in Livingston County is better than the state 

 average because the soils of the northern part of Livingston 

 County are much better than the average. The yields were about 

 1 5 per cent above the averages given for the state by the 

 census report. 



The average yields in Livingston County for the year studied 

 were hay, 1.42 tons; wheat, 18.5 bushels; oats, 41.1 bushels; 

 beans, 15.9 bushels; corn, 39.6 bushels; potatoes, 106 bushels; 

 cabbage, 6.18 tons. 



