908 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



Interpretation of Results. — This is the most important phase of the 

 work. If an account comes out even it means that the enterprise has paid 

 rent on land, taxes, interest on inventory value, all expenses, and has also 

 paid wages to men and teams for the time put upon it. If a more profitable 

 crop can be found that will not interfere with the other successful crops 

 of the farm, it should be substituted. If not, it may be good business to 

 continue the old crop. It employs labor at actual cost when it would other- 

 wise be idle. 



A study of the account may reveal a way to make the crop pay. It 

 may be by increasing the yield or it may be by reducing the cost per acre. 

 One should judge whether the year is an average one and if average prices 

 prevail. 



A study of the accounts here given shows a heavy expense for teams. 

 There are too many horses for the acres of land under plow; consequently, 

 they averaged only about three hours of work daily for 300 days in the 

 year. This made the horse labor cost 17.38 cents an hour. On a well- 

 managed farm the cost should be not more than 10 cents an hour. 



Of the crops, hay and rye gave good profits, while potatoes gave a 

 very small profit. The potatoes could be made more profitable by increas- 

 ing the acreage. Two and one-half acres are too small to justify the 

 maintenance of a good equipment. Corn gave a fair gross return, but the 

 hours of man and horse labor devoted to it were so large and costly that 

 the crop shows a loss of $209.73. Six units of horse labor per acre of 

 corn are usually sufficient. In this crop nearly ten units per acre were used. 



The cows show a heavy loss. Without the detailed account for the 

 year it is not quite clear Avhy they lost money. The gross receipts appear 

 fairly good, but expenses are too high. It is evident that one may lose 

 money by feeding profitable crops to unprofitable cows. 



The poultry shows a loss due very likely to the fact that it was just 

 being established. The account is not fully satisfactory because it does 

 not show the number of fowls either at the beginning of the year or in 

 the final inventory. The hours of labor on poultry are rather large in com- 

 parison with the inventory at the close of the year. The expenses, as will 

 be noted, are much greater than the actual receipts. From 100 to 300 

 hens can usually be kept on a farm with comparatively small expense for 

 feed and with cheap labor. Such usually should give a good profit. 



REFERENCES 



"Farm Accounts." Vye. 



"Farmers' Business Hand Book." Roberts. 



"The Business Side of Farming." Bexel. 



Illinois Expt. Station Circulars 77, 84, 102, 114, 115. "Records of Dairy Cows." 



Indiana Expt. Station Bulletin 127. "Records of Dairy Cows." 



Massachusetts Expt. Station Bulletin 120. 



Farmers' Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture: 



511. "Farm Bookkeeping." 



572. "A System of Farm Cost Accounting." 



