FARM MANAGEMENT IN LENAWEE COUNTY, MICH. 3 



A study of the relative percentage of acreage devoted to the prin- 

 cipal farm crops indicates that under normal conditions there should 

 be an increase in the acreage of corn on the average farm of the 

 region. The average acreage of oats, wheat, barley, and hay are well 

 within the limits shown to be most profitable. 



Lenawee County is primarily a live-stock section and on most farms 

 a greater percentage of the income is derived from the sale of live 

 stock and live-stock products than from the sale of crop products. 

 However, with but few exceptions, the better organized and more 

 profitable farms of the section continue to receive from 10 to 30 per 

 cent of their total income from the sale of surplus crops. 



Corn, oats, wheat, and hay are the principal farm crops of the 

 region. Of the special crops, alfalfa is by far the most important. 



INDIANA 



Fig. 1. — Location of the area studied (shaded portion of map). 



This crop is rapidly gaining favor, and is found in small acreages on 

 most farms of the section surveyed. Soy beans do well on all the 

 soils of the county. This crop could be made valuable in the winter 

 feeding of hogs and for starting feeder lambs in the fall. Cowpeas 

 are especially suited to the sandy soils of the county. 



In Lenawee County men with a capital ranging from $1,000 to 

 $7,000 make better labor incomes by renting farms than by owning 

 them. No tenants were found with a capital over $7,000, but up to 

 this point the data show considerable advantage for the tenants as 

 compared with men with an equal capital who own their farms. 

 This is largely due to the fact that the rented farms are larger than 

 the corresponding owner farms. The tenant with all his money used 

 as working capital can conduct a larger business than he would be 

 able to do if the same capital were divided between real estate and 

 working capital. 



