12 BULLETIX 1043, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



An examination of the total damage to given crops indicates, as 

 might be expected, a variation in most cases greater on a percentage 

 basis than the variations in annual totals for all crops. These 

 variations are particularly marked in the case of wheat, barley, 

 flaxseed, and rice. They are smallest in the case of corn, owing 

 largely, no doubt, to the general distribution of the corn acreage in 

 the United States. 



Lastly, an examination of the figures representing the damage to 

 given crops from specified causes shows the relative variations to 

 be even greater. Thus the variations in damage to the wheat crop 

 from deficient moisture range from less than 18 million to 295 million 

 dollars, while those of cotton from the same cause range from 43 

 million to nearly 389 million dollars. On a relative basis the varia- 

 tion in damage to individual crops from some of the less important 

 causes would be still more striking. In the case of hail damage to 

 cotton., for example, the variation is from H million to 17 million 

 dollars. 



Deficient moisture and excessive moistui'e might also be expected to 

 have an inverse relationship, the damage from one of these causes 

 tending to be relatively light in years when the damage from the other 

 is relatively heavy. This is well illustrated by the two columns 

 given to these causes. Little, if any, relationship of this kind is 

 noticeable, however, between the two causes of frost and hot winds 

 which, in a modified way, also represent opposite extremes. 



Extended comment on the tables seems unnecessary. It should be 

 emphasized, however, that the figures for crop damage in terms of 

 dollars represent, in part, a theoretical loss only. While an increase 

 of 10 or 20 per cent in. the yield of a given crop will increase the 

 gross income of an individual farmer from that crop by the same 

 percentage, this relationship between increase in yield and increase 

 in gross income does not hold when all or even a large proportion 

 of the entire farmer grouj) is considered. In this case increase in 

 yield will, of course, materially affect the total supply of the com- 

 modity in question, which natui-ally affects the price, Xo attempt 

 has been made to allow for this fact in translating the quantitative 

 crop damage into terms of dollars. Table 3. which shows damage to 

 all crops in the common denominator of dollars, will, therefore, be of 

 more value for purposes of making comparisons between the amount 

 of damage to different crops and in different regions than as a measure 

 of actual diminution in the income of the farmers by reason of 

 damage to their crops. 



