UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 341 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from Office of Farm Management 



W. J.Spillman, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



January 17, 1916 



FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER 

 COUNTY, PA. 



By W. J. Spillman, Chief, Office of Farm Management, H. M. Dixon, Assistant 

 Agrictilturist, and G. A. Billings, Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Objects of study 1 



Application to Chester County agriculture. . . 3 



Territory surveyed 4 



Types of farming 15 



Crops 17 



Live stock 21 



Sources of income 24 



Variations in crop area in relation to labor 



income 30 



Magnitude of business 53 



Tenant farms 68 



Quality of business 73 



Farm organization 81 



Depreciation of dairy cows 93 



Depreciation of work horses 95 



Value of manure 96 



Index 99 



OBJECTS OF STUDY, 



- The objects of this study were : 1 



1. To work out a method of studying regional farm manage- 



ment problems. 



2. To discover fundamental principles of farm management. 



3. To work out the application of these fundamental principles 



to the agriculture of a definite agricultural region. 

 It is believed the system of tabulating and interpreting farm- 

 management survey data worked out in the study of the survey 

 made in Chester County and presented in this bulletin offers a means 

 of interpreting such data that will render such a farm-management 

 survey of great value in determining the best agricultural practice 

 in any distinct agricultural region. 



1 Acknowledgment is due Messrs. J. I. Falconer, D. L. Cottrill, H. B. Munger, L. G. Con- 

 nor, Jos. H. Hamilton, E. L. Moffitt, and H. M. Doyle, who assisted in collecting the data 

 presented in this bulletin. Prof. F. D. Gardner, of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural 

 College, gave valuable assistance in selecting the area studied and suggestions concerning 

 the conduct of the work. Thanks are extended to the many farmers in this region 

 through whose courtesy this work was made possible. 



Note. — This study is based on the operations of 643 farms in an old and prosperous 

 agricultural section. It is designed to develop fundamental and broadly applicable 

 principles of good farm management. 

 14108° —Dull. 341—16 1 



