The Ifanction of Manures and Fertilizers 29 



now obtainable is on the whole less efficient, being per- 

 formed more largely by those untrained for their work, 

 rather than by the owner and his sons; and this in- 

 creased cost of labor makes the cost of growing the staple 

 crops much greater in proportion to their market value 

 than was formerly the case, though there are, of course, 

 exceptions. 



For example, harvest wages throughout the eastern 

 part of the country, at any rate, were in the sixties regu- 

 lated somewhat by the price of wheat. When wheat was 

 $3 a bushel in the eastern states, the daily wage was $3. 

 Now the daily wage in the east ranges from $2 to $2.50 a 

 day, while the price of wheat does not often exceed $1 a 

 bushel, and the price received is frequently much lower.. 

 The wages for other kinds of farm work are proportion- 

 ately the same in reference to present prices of products. 

 During the past twenty-five years the cost of labor has 

 increased materially and remains constant regardless of 

 the nature of the work, character of farming, crop grown 

 or season. This condition, considered in connection 

 with the important fact that the total cost of crop to the 

 acre is practically the same, whether the yield is high or 

 low, exerts a decided influence in determining profits, 

 particularly on land of medium fertility. The cost of 

 preparing the land for the seed, the cost of seed and the 

 seeding and harvesting are the same for a crop of wheat, 

 whether the yield is 10 or 30 bushels an acre; but this 

 cost will not permit a profit from the 10-bushel yield, 

 because the cost to the bushel is too largely increased. 

 The same considerations hold true for a number of other 

 crops. Small yields of these relatively low-priced crops 

 cannot be profitably produced with the present high price 

 of labor; and it has been shown, furthermore, that land 



