8 WHEAT CULTURE. 



also, as a consequence, afford enlarged profits for their 

 operations. 



THE FARMER'S CAPITAL. 



Each acre of land, with its necessary appurtenances, 

 constitutes the farmer's fixed capital. The more he can 

 produce from each acre, without exhausting his soil, the 

 greater will be his interest on the investment. Labor, 

 tools, seed, teams, and fertilizers, are the temporary capi- 

 tal, and this capital is continually consumed and worn 

 out, requiring as continually to be replenished. 



Exhausting or robbing the soil from year to year by 

 improvident management, is equivalent to a man's ex- 

 pending or reducing his capital the principal instead 

 of only the interest or income. All business men know 

 this to be a ruinous performance, which will, sooner or 

 later, result in bankruptcy. 



If a farmer has ten acres of land it is so much invested 

 capital, and if by judicious culture he obtains from it 

 three hundred bushels of wheat each year, instead of 

 only one hundred and fifty bushels, it is so much in- 

 creased income for the capital invested, which is the 

 value of the ten acres say one hundred dollars per acre, 

 making a capital of one thousand dollars. 



COST OF RAISING WHEAT. 



From various data it is safe to assume that, on the ma- 

 jority of farms throughout the country, the cost of rais- 

 ing and marketing the wheat crop is about ten dollars 

 per acre, including taxes and interest on land and the 

 wear and tear of tools. Eeliable statistics for the past 

 few years show that the average yield per acre has been 

 about fourteen bushels, and the average price of wheat 

 per bushel about one dollar, giving an income of about 

 fourteen dollars per acre annually, and a profit of four 

 dollars per acre above cost of production, allowing noth- 



