PURCHASING POWER PER ACRE. 



Farm prices are not available before 1908 except for December 1. The pur- 

 chasing power for crops at December 1 prices are given on pages 67 to 71. 



Purchasing power per acre harvested is also included. If the crop is an 

 average one, the purchasing power per bushel and per acre is the same, but in 

 a year of high yields, the purchasing power per acre is higher than the price 

 suggests and in a year of low yield, the purchasing power per acre is much less 

 than prices indicate. These facts lead to much misunderstanding between 

 city and country in a short crop year. Farmers are, of course, concerned with 

 the returns per acre, whereas consumers are concerned with price per bushel. 

 The farmer's situation, therefore, is not what it appears to be to the consumers. 



Purchasing power per acre sown is given for winter wheat on page 72. This 

 can not be calculated for other crops, because the abandoned acreage is not 

 reported. The abandoned acreage for other crops is often very large, particularly 

 in semiarid regions in dry years. 



The tables for purchasing power per acre may be continued for later years 

 by using new figures given in the Monthly Crop Reporter for December. The 

 figure for the year in question is divided by the five-year average before the 

 war and the number thus obtained is divided by the index number of whole- 

 sale prices as given in Table II, to obtain the purchasing power. 



66 



