18 



BULLETIN 41, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The relation of profits to the efficiency of the farmer is shown in 

 Table XL 



Tabli: XI. — Relation of profits to the efficiency of the farmer on 273 farms 

 operated by owners in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, 





Num- 

 ber of 



farms. 



Aver- 

 age 

 size 



(acres). 



Aver- 

 age 

 crop 

 area 



(acres). 



Distribution per acre. 



Labor income. 



Re- 

 ceipts. 



Ex- 

 penses. 



Farm 

 income. 



Inter- 

 est. 



Labor 

 income. 



— S500 and more 



26 

 23 

 40 

 53 

 34 

 23 

 20 

 13 

 19 

 10 

 12 



267 

 160 

 102 

 120 

 139 

 161 

 184 

 217 

 201 

 249 

 330 



199 



117 



77 



95 



96 



118 



140 



160 



169 



179 



240 



810. 98 

 12.02 

 12.94 

 14.84 

 14.98 

 17.80 

 17. 13 

 16.77 

 19.18 

 25.79 

 25.46 



$5.97 

 5.92 

 5.53 

 5.70 

 5.37 

 5.79 

 5.16 

 4.51 

 5.00 

 9.60 

 7.14 



85.01 

 6.10 

 7.41 

 9.14 

 9.61 

 12.01 

 11.97 

 12.26 

 14.18 

 16.19 

 18.32 



88.74 

 8.16 

 8.30 

 8.31 

 7.42 

 8.78 

 8.22 

 8.14 

 8.23 

 9.31 

 8.46 



—S3. 73 



-S499 to —$200 



-8199 to S3 



- 2.06 



- .89 



?1 toS200 



.83 



$201 to 8400 



2.19 



$401 to SKID 



3.23 



$601 toSSOO 



3.75 



SS01 to 81,000 



4.12 



81,001 to 81,500 



5.95 



81,501 to 82,000 



6.88 



Over 82,000 



9.86 







Total or average 



273 



178 



133 



17.28 



6.39 



10.89 



8.60 



2.29 







In Table XI the farms are classified according to labor income. 

 The men making the poorest and those making the best profits have 

 large farms. Those just " breaking even " have, on an average, small 

 farms. 



Many of these men are also poor farmers, but they can not be ex- 

 pected to do as "well as those working a large area. We do not find 

 the gross inefficiency among the tenants, for they must earn the 

 rent which goes to the landlord, and if they receive nothing for 

 their labor they can not live. They have no interest on which to 

 live, as does the farm owner with a large investment. The country 

 would be benefited if the few inefficient farm owners on the large 

 farms were persuaded to rent their farms to enterprising tenants. 

 They would still have as much or more than they are now getting, 

 and the tenant would have a good living. 



FARM CAPITAL. 



It is difficult to realize the immense wealth embodied in the farms 

 of the North Central States. The broad expanse of rich land, rang- 

 ing in value from $100 to $200 an acre, constitutes an enormous 

 resource. Owing to the extreme variations in capital, the number 

 of farms included in the survey are too few to permit a careful 

 study of the influence of the size of investment on profits. Of the 

 273 farm owners only 9 had less than $5,000 capital, while 50 per 

 cent of them had more than $20,000. 



Generally speaking, the farmer's capital is in about the same 

 proportion as the size of his farm, especially in a region of com- 

 paratively uniform land values. If the men with large capital 



