COST OF PRODUCTION 



97 



The tendency is for the percentage exported to decrease 

 rather than to increase. The principal ports from which 

 corn is shipped are New York, Baltimore, New Orleans and 

 Galveston. 



115. Cost of Production. The best available informa- 

 tion on the cost of producing corn is that contained in the 

 April, 1911, Crop Reporter, published by the Bureau of 

 Statistics of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In this 

 number, the reports of about 6,000 correspondents in all 

 parts of the country are tabulated. The figures are for the 

 cost of producing corn in 1909. The average of all the reports 

 shows that it cost $12.27 to produce an acre of corn in that 

 year; as the average yield was 32.4 bushels, the bushel cost 

 was 37.9 cents. The items which went to make up this cost 

 of $12.27 to the acre were: Fertilizers, 62 cents; prepara- 

 tion of land, $2.11; seed, 24 cents; planting, 44 cents; culti- 

 vation, $2.24; gathering, $2.20; miscellaneous, 47 cents; 

 land rental or interest, $3.75. The relative importance of 

 these items naturally varies somewhat in different sections 

 of the United States, the fertilizer cost being high in the East 

 and South and little or nothing in the Central and Western 

 states, while other items show some differences. The cost, 

 value, and difference between value and cost for the different 

 sections are shown in Table V. 



Table V. Acre cost of production of corn, acre value, and differ- 

 ence between value and cost for the United States and for the 

 different sections of the country in the year 1909. 



