48 BULLETIN 91*7, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



use cost for machinery ($3.80 per acre for beets) was recorded. 

 The use cost of machinery for grains and alfalfa was also greatest 

 at Fort Morgan. This item in the other districts was fairly uniform. 



Thrashing is partly a labor and partly a machinery charge against 

 a crop. The portion of the thrashing labor furnished by the farmer 

 has already been considered under "Labor costs." The charge here 

 is the cash paid to the thrashing crew for thrashing the grain. This 

 charge probably more nearly approaches the contract-labor classi- 

 fication. However, it is considered here as an individual item. 

 The highest cost occurred at Greeley, where the yield was larger and 

 the method of thrashing different. In this area a higher rate per 

 bushel was paid, but more labor was furnished by the thrasher than 

 in the other districts. 



The item of overhead, which is based on the amount of labor and 

 materials, varies with these two items. This charge ranged from 

 $1.08 per acre for oats at Greeley to $12 per acre for cantaloupes at 

 Rocky Ford. 



The total "Other costs/' with the exception of sugar beets, were 

 highest at Greeley. Beans show approximately the same cost at 

 Greeley and at Rocky Ford, while beets show the greatest other 

 cost in the Rocky Ford district. Cantaloupes cost about the same 

 as beans. Potatoes and cucumbers cost about the same as sugar 

 beets for this item. 



SUMMARY AND DISTRIBUTION OF COSTS. 



When all of the cost groups are added together the sum represents 

 the total cost of production. 



A higher percentage of the total cost is shown for labor on culti- 

 vated crops than for the other crops with the exception of potatoes, 

 the labor cost for which is 36 per cent of the total cost of production. 

 Where the percentage of labor cost is low the percentage of other 

 costs is high. 



Alfalfa had the lowest percentage cost for materials (5 per cent) 

 and potatoes had the highest (43 per cent). 



The importance of each group as compared with the total cost of 

 production is readily seen when reduced to a percentage basis. 



Table VII shows the distribution of total cost in terms of per- 

 centages 



