A FIVE-YEAR FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN OHIO. 47 



terprise in the township and can not be considered of great impor- 

 tance in affecting profits every year. 



The sales of hay in 1916 were but $7 per farm above the five-year 

 average, the quantity sold being almost 50 per cent above the average 

 and the price per ton 27 per cent below the average. 



The 1916 crop receipts exceeded the five-year average 9 per cent, 

 and the stock receipts, including dairy products, eggs, and wool, 25 

 per cent. 



The single enterprise most affecting the greater 1916 profits was 

 cattle, the receipts from which were $99 (41 per cent) more than the 

 five-year average, owing to higher prices and more cattle sold. 



The variations from year to year in the yields of the different 

 crops, in the numbers of the different classes of stock, and in the 

 prices received for crops and stock were so distributed above and be- 

 low the average as to produce no great variations in the labor income 

 for three of the five years. In 1916 a sufficient number of thase varia- 

 tions were above the average, and some of them were so much above 

 the average as to produce a labor income considerably higher than 

 the five-year average ; while in 1913 they were sufficiently below the 

 average to depress the labor income to 40 per cent below the average. 

 These would indicate that in such an area as this, with a well-estab- 

 lished and well-diversified system of farming, the variations in the 

 quantities and prices of the several crops and kinds of stock above the 

 average are so counteracted by those below the average as to produce 

 little change in the labor income except when there is a general 

 change in price levels, or a decidedly poor crop year. 



A STUDY OF 73 FARMS BY SIZE AND QUALITY OF BUSINESS. 



SIZE OF FARM BUSINESS. 



It is a well-established principle that the size of business of what- 

 ever kind is one of the leading factors affecting its profits. The 

 principle is as applicable to the farm business as to any other, and 

 the data shown herein accord therewith. The number of acres of 

 crops grown on the farms in this area was quite indicative of the 

 comparative size of the business conducted on them, and it has been 

 used in this bulletin as the measure of the size of the farm business. 

 For this study in size all of the farms of the area from which usable 

 records were obtained from one to five years, 73 in number, were ar- 

 ranged in three groups, based on the number of acres of crops raised. 

 Each of the 18 farms in the first group produced 30 acres or less of 

 crops, each of the 29 farms in the second group 31 to 45 acres, and 

 each of the 26 farms in the third group over 45 acres.^ 



^ In addition to the 25 farms with five-year record, 48 other farms are here included — 

 12 with two-year records, 12 with three-year records, and 12 with four-year records. The 

 farms in each of these groups are almost equally divided among the different size groups. 



