34 



BULLETIN" 716, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



are included in the farm expense. For the five-year period these 

 averaged $419 per farm and amonnted to 45 per cent, or ahnost one- 

 half of the farm receipts. These expenses, with the exception of 

 $87, the value of the unpaid family labor, all represent money paid 

 out. The farm expenses for the different years were shown in Table I. 

 For three of the five years they approximated the five-year average, 

 for one year they were about 10 per cent below the average, and for 

 1916 they were 9 per cent above the average. For the purpose of this 

 discussion the expenses have been grouped in six classes, viz, labor, 

 repairs and depreciation, feed, seeds and fertilizer, taxes and insur- 

 ance, and miscellaneous. The proportion each class represented of the 

 total expenses each year and for the five-year average is shown in 

 figure 12. 



PER CENT 

 40 



60 



80 



^ ^/ f 



^^ 



^ymmsik 



mmmmm^^m^MSSi 



'yj-y-'- 



'--3^; 



^^^mmmm:-:>:<ms^ 



^77>^ 





■ UNPAID FAM- 

 IlLY LABOR 



HIRED 



LABOR 



DEPRECIATION 

 AND R E PA I RS 

 I IN3UR AN CE 

 I AND TA XES 



FEED 

 MISCEL 



SEED AND 

 FERTILIZER 



Fig. 12. — Distribution of expeases, 25 farms, Palmer Township, Washington County, Ohio. 



The value of all labor on the farms, except that performed by the 

 farmer himself, was $136 per farm, or about one-third of the total 

 expenses. Of this amount, $87 was for 3.6 months of unpaid family 

 labor and $49 for 1.6 months of hired labor. About 90 per cent of 

 the labor was performed by the farmers and their families, with a 

 comparatively low cash expense for labor. One farmer kept a hand 

 throughout the year, another had a hand for six months of the year 

 and four kept hands for a few months during the summer. In all, six 

 farmers each had a regidar hired hand for part or all of the year 

 and Avith a total expense of $554. for regular hired labor. Almost as 

 much of the labor hired, however, was for hands for a single day or 

 a few days at a time now and then during rush periods. More or 



