FARMIN-G IN SOUTHWESTERN KENTTJCKY. 3 



by any individual farmer. The large diversified farms require a 

 heavy investment in live stock, and experience has shown that 

 handling live stock involves considerable risk, so that farmers hesi- 

 tate to use their own capital too freely in live-stock investments; 

 for the same reason it is difficult to borrow large amounts for such 

 ventures. 



On the farms studied the most common way of enlarging the ferm 

 business is by renting additional land. Of the farmers visited, those 

 who rented additional land almost invariably made higher profits 

 than those who farmed only the land they owned. Fifty-five farm 

 owners out of 342 farmers rented additional land and made an aver- 

 age labor income of $552, while the average labor income of farm 

 owners without additional rented land was $222. Sixty-eight were 

 tenant farmers, and these made the highest labor income, $656.13. 



The good farmer will aim to make the net earnings of his farm 

 as high as possible. Net earnings are what is left after subtracting 

 from receipts all expenses excepting a charge for rent of land, but in- 

 cluding a charge for management.^ Net earnings as thus defined 

 would be what a farmer could afford to pay a landlord for rent. The 

 average of 342 farmers made the land earn $3.14 per acre, net. The 

 average of 140 more successful farmers made the land earn $6.14 per 

 acre. The average of all others, representing the less profitable 

 farms, was $1.05 per acre. Difference in quality of soil only partly 

 accounted for the difference in land earnings, since all these farms are 

 located on land similar in kind and topography. Neither did the 

 prices of land vary widely on the different farms. The differences 

 evidently were due mainly to farm practice and organization. The 

 farms showing highest earnings per acre were better stocked, had 

 greater diversity, less idle and waste land, and better economy in the 

 utilization of horse labor. Farms over 400 acres in size averaged 

 about 120 productive days' work per horse, while farms under 100 

 acres in size- averaged but about 80 days. The cost of man labor was 

 also lower on the large farms. 



CROP YIELDS. 



Next in importance to size of business in profitable farming is crop 

 yield. While low crop yields in large measure account for the very 

 low profits on many of these farms, a good many farmers were able 

 to make fair profits in spite of low yields. It is even possible to 

 secure high yields at too great expense. It must always be kept in 



1 When taking the farm records each farmer was asked to estimate the value of his 

 services as manager, not including the labor he performed. The average of these esti- 

 mates was $459. The average cost of labor on the farm, including an estimate of the 

 value of the operator's actual farm labor, was $'^2. Thus the cost of management was 

 58 per cent of the labor cost. 



