FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA. 87 



of farm management surveys accumulate, these more detailed studies 

 will become easily possible. For the present it must suffice to point 

 out certain facts relating to farm expenses which may be useful in 

 making comparisons between the farming of this region and that 

 of other regions where different conditions prevail. 



Table L shows the interesting fact that on all sizes of owner farms 

 in the Chester County survey area the expense of conducting the 

 farm business is from 39 to 47 per cent of the total farm receipts. 

 There appears to be no particular relation between size of farm and 

 the percentage of receipts required to meet expenses. There is an 

 undoubted relation of this kind between type of farming and ex- 

 penses, but since on the 378 owner farms there is little relation 

 between type of farming and size of farm, this relation is not made 

 evident in the tabulated data. 



Table L. — Proportion of receipts required for operating expenses. 





13 to 40. 



41 to 60. 



61 to 80. 



81 to 100. 



101 to 120. 



121 to 160. 









54 



Per cent. 

 44.7 



61 



Per cent. 

 39.1 



60 



Per cent. 

 41.3 



68 



Per cent. 

 42.6 



52 



Per cent. 

 45.4 



61 



Proportion of receipts required for operat- 



Per cent. 

 42.2 









Over 160. 



All 

 owners. 



Tenant 

 farms. 



Tenant's 

 share. 



Land- 

 lord's 

 share. 



Specials. 





Nnmher of farms 



22 



Per cent. 

 47.1 



378 



Per cent. 

 43.2 



124 



Per cent. 

 41.0 



124 



Per cent. 

 52.4 



124 



Per cent. 

 28.0 



27 



Proportion of receipts required for operat- 



Per cent. 

 48.7 







On the average for all the owners, current expenses amount to 43.2 

 per cent of the total receipts. On the 124 tenant farms it is a little less 

 than this, being just 41 per cent. It appears that both tenant and 

 landlord are somewhat more economical in the matter of expenditures 

 than is the case with those who operate their own farms, which is to 

 be expected. The owner who operates his own farm has not only 

 a labor income, but interest on his capital as well with which to pro- 

 vide the family living. The tenant has little more than his labor 

 income, while the landlord has only his income on capital. In the 

 case of both landlord and tenant economy is thus more a matter of 

 necessity than it is in the case of the owner operator. 



While the total expense of landlord and tenant combined amounts 

 to 41 per cent of the receipts on tenant farms (not counting rent) , 

 the data in Table L shows that the tenant expends 52.4 per cent and 

 the landlord 28 per cent of his receipts in the conduct of the farm 

 business. On the 27 special farms on which a hothouse business is 



