BIG CEOPS vs. NORMAL 41 



He did not profit by the lesson ; but I did, for I 

 began to figure up the costs. 



I raised two hundred bushels of potatoes and 

 sold them for seventy-five cents a bushel. My 

 receipts were $150.00. But the costs were 

 $148.00. I made a profit of $2.00 on the trans- 

 action. 



My neighbor had one hundred bushels to sell 

 for which he received $75.00. His expenses 

 were $66.00, and his profit $9.00. 



Neither of us got the best possible return. 

 If he had used imported seed and a little more 

 fertilizer, probably his returns would have been 

 higher, while it is quite possible that I could 

 have cut my fertilizer bill and my spraying costs 

 to advantage. But the point is not what might 

 have happened but what did. The way to make 

 money on potatoes is to have the cost per bushel 

 less than the price at which they are sold. My 

 neighbor beat me; his farming experience was 

 a better business asset than my imported ideas 

 of big yields. 



The next year I raised my yield and inci- 

 dentally the costs. My land produced three 



