FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA. 



73 



RELATION OF TENURE TO YIELD OF CROPS. 



The first line of Table XL gives the average yields of the crops 

 grown in this area on farms operated by their owners, the second line 

 yields on the tenant farms taken as a whole. As is to be expected, 

 yields on the farms operated by their owners are slightly larger on 

 the average than those operated by tenants, but the difference is not 

 great. The last two lines of the table give a comparison of the yields 

 on farms operated by cash tenants and those operated by share ten- 

 ants. Except in the case of silage, the yields are in all cases larger 

 on the farms of share tenants, the difference probably being due to 

 the greater amount of control the landlord retains of the business in 

 the case of share-rented farms. 



Table XL. — Comparison of crop yields per acre on owner and tenant farms, 



Chester County. 





Number 

 of farms. 



Corn. 



Silage. 



Potatoes. 



Wheat. 



Oats. 



Hay. 





378 

 124 

 53 

 71 



65.3 

 64.5 

 61.8 

 66.1 



13.1 

 11.7 

 12.1 

 11.4 



78.8 

 66.4 

 54.9 

 72.7 



24.8 

 23.6 

 22.0 

 24.6 



41.6 

 37.1 

 36.2 

 37.6 



1.3 





1.25 





1.2 



Share rent 



1.3 







The average yield of corn on the share-rented farms is actually 

 larger than it is on the owned farms, the yield of hay being ap- 

 proximately the same, while in the case of the other crops the owners 

 have more or less the advantage in the matter of yield. 



QUALITY OF BUSINESS. 



A very important factor of efficiency in farming is the quality 

 of the business. This is indicated by the yield per acre, the income 

 per animal unit, work units accomplished per individual employed, 

 etc. 



YIELD PER ACRE. 



Table XLI shows the average yield per acre of the principal crops 

 on the 378 farms operated by their owners, by size of farm. Some 

 of these yields are very high, while others are low. The average 

 yield of corn was 65.3 bushels per acre, which is far above the average 

 for any of the corn-belt States as a whole, and there are few localities 

 in any State that exceed this. The yield of silage is correspondingly 

 high, being 13.1 tons per acre, or an average of 1 ton for each 5 

 bushels of corn. The season of 1911 was very favorable to the corn 

 crop, and this yield is somewhat above the average for this locality. 

 The yield of wheat is satisfactory when compared with State averages 



