ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF FARMS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 17 



Seventeen per cent of all the expense of the farms was for feed. 

 On the dairy farms cost of feed averaged 22 per cent of the total farm 

 expense, and on the general farms 11 per cent. The average feed 

 bill on the dairy farms amounted to $149. On the 349 farms taken 

 as a whole, 26 per cent of the total farm expense was for repairs and 

 depreciation on buildings, machinery, and fences. In other words, 

 over one-fourth of the total farm expense was for maintenance of 

 property. 



Fourteen per cent of the expense was for family labor, 9 per cent 

 for hired labor, and 10 per cent for taxes. All the other expenses 

 were small, the only two that amounted to more than 3 per cent of 

 the total farm expenses being fertilizers, 5.4 per cent, and seeds, 3.3 

 per cent. 



Analyzing the expenses by size-groups, we find that on the farms 

 with an area of 70 acres or under 30 per cent of the total farm expense 

 was for repairs, depreciation of buildings, machinery, and fences, 

 while on the group of largest farms, those with an area of 130 acres 

 or over, these items amounted to 24 per cent of the total farm ex- 

 pense. This serves to emphasize the fact that, in general, the larger 

 the farm of a given type the lower proportionately will be the main- 

 tenance expenses; that is, the larger farms show greater efficiency 

 in that machinery, buildings, and fencing expenses are proportionally 

 reduced. 



Fourteen per cent of the farmers rented additional pasture land, 

 usually parts of tracts without buildings or of lands held by mining 

 companies, the houses thereon being occupied by miners. Those 

 renting thus usually pay about $1 per acre, as this is not good pasture 

 land, being usually grown up with brush or partly in woods. Where 

 it is rented by the month, the price is usually 75 cents to SI per head 

 of stock pastured per month. The average expense for pasture hire 

 on the farms that rented was $21.20 per farm. 



SIZE OF FARM, ORGANIZATION, AND PROFITS. 



Twenty-three per cent of the farms covered in this study were 70 

 acres or under in size, while 18 per cent contained over 130 acres. 

 By dividing the farms into four groups, those containing 70 acres or 

 under, those of 71 to 100 acres, those of 101 to 130 acres, and those of 

 over 130 acres, a series of averages is obtained that should be of prac- 

 tical value to the farmers of this region. The dairy farmer with 70 

 acres or under is thus enabled to note how the average farm following 

 this same type is organized and operated in this region. Like com- 

 parisons may be drawn for each of the four size-groups. 



A number of factors, such as labor requirements and live stock 

 returns, differ considerably in the operation of a dairy farm as com- 



