December, 1931] Dairy Farming in Grafton County 77 



for the valle}^ farms over those of the upland was considerably more 

 than sufficient to pay interest on the difference in investments is evi- 

 denced by average labor incomes of $511 and $357, respectively. There 

 is a suggestion here of why some boys leave home. They happened to 

 be born on a hill farm. Under present conditions the farm is hardly 

 commensurate with their abilities ; it might better be used for pasture 

 or woodland contributing to a larger business with headquarters on 

 good alluvial soil in the valley. 



Increasing distance from market also reduced both capital and labor 

 income. It is more evident with the hill farms, not primarily due to the 

 hills, but because of poor roads. The average distance to market for 

 milk from the hill farms was 4.7 and from the valley farms 3.1 miles. 

 There were 85 of the hill farms from which milk had to go an aver- 

 age distance of 10.3 miles to be delivered at the station. 



With a bulky perishable product like milk that must be delivered 

 every day, distance to market is a very important factor. The advan- 

 tages to dairy farmers of easily accessible markets are seldom entirely 

 capitalized in the values of nearby land. 



Values of Crop Land 



In most regions there are different grades of land selling at corre- 

 sponding prices. A decision must be made between having the best 

 at a high price or putting up with poor land because it is cheap. In 

 general, the best land for farming purposes is the most economical 

 to buy, but this does not necessarily mean the highest priced land. 

 Farm buildings very near villages and cities often have a certain resi- 

 dential value, or some of the land reflects the price of potential house- 

 lots. Outside any appreciable influence of this nature, equally good 

 land for farming purposes sells considerably cheaper. If hard roads 

 prevail, the slight additional distance to trading centers may be negli- 

 gible in the farm economy. 



Table 67 — Relation of value of crop land per acre to labor income. 



