THE MARGIN OF PROFIT 127 



one hundred per cent on the investment, while the first 

 ten bushels only pay sixteen and two -thirds per cent on 

 the investment. In other words, one acre under the 

 second management is much better than two acres under 

 the first, for it is equivalent to growing the second acre 

 with an outlay equal to only ten bushels, instead of an 

 outlay equal to sixty bushels. This reasoning may 

 sound theoretical and visionary, but it is just the 

 kind of operations which are being carried on all the 

 time. It is just this sort of differences, too, which dis- 

 tinguishes the man who is making a success of farming 

 or fruit-growing from the man who only keeps even or 

 runs behind. We should realize that only in the last 

 bushels of the crop the profit lies. 



PROFITS 



Reliable figures as to the cost and profits of farm 

 crops are very difficult to obtain, for the reason that so 

 few growers keep any records, or know what their crops 

 cost them. Of the few who do keep accurate accounts, 

 not many put the results in print, where they may be 

 accessible to others. Anything said on this subject, 

 therefore, must be very largely in the nature of esti- 

 mates. For ordinary farm conditions the cost of pro- 

 duction per acre may be roughly estimated somewhat 

 as follows: 



FIRST YEAR 



Bent of land $5 00 



Plants 15 00 



Fertilizers *. 20 00 



$40 00 



