10 BULLETIN 651, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the former and 15.8 for the latter. Man and mule labor, fertilizer, 

 and rent constituted most of the cost of production, the total expense 

 of these items being 90.8 cents out of a dollar. The remaining 9.2 

 cents per dollar of cost was taken up as follows : Implements, 3 cents ; 

 seed, 2.8 cents; miscellaneous costs, 2.3 cents; and interest on 

 working fund, 1.3 cents. The distribution of the items of cost for 

 the principal crops is also shown in Table III. The total amount 

 per crop unit chargeable to the various items of cost is shown in 

 Table IV. This gives a further idea of how the costs are distributed 

 among the various crops. The items of cost per pound of gross lint 

 cotton are of most interest, man labor being 4.48 cents, mule labor 

 2.20 cents, fertilizers 1.74 cents, and rent 1.54 cents. Some of the 

 notable influences that increase or decrease the cost of producing 

 crops in the Belton area and the effect these costs have on the com- 

 bination of enterprises will be shown in later discussion. 1 



METHODS OF MEASURING SUCCESS IN FARMING. 



In showing the effect of one or more factors upon the success of a 

 farm, some standard or standards must be used whereby the success 

 can be measured. It has been quite well determined that no single 

 standard can be used as an absolute measure. The viewpoint of 

 those interested in the farm is not always the same, and what may 

 be profitable to one may be unprofitable to another. A tenant, for 

 example, may operate a farm that is profitable to him but which is 

 a losing proposition to the landlord, or an operator may realize a 

 high income by exploiting labor. Consequently more than one 

 standard must often be used if a farm enterprise is to be judged 

 correctly. 



Some of the more important measures applicable in the Belton 

 area are: 



1. Farm income, which is the difference between receipts and 

 expenses. 



1 The items included in the costs were rent, man labor, interest on working fund, mule labor, seed, 

 fertilizer, and miscellaneous costs. The renting value of the land covered the cost of the land, the building 

 and fencing charges, insurance, and taxes. The man labor included paid or hired labor, and family, 

 operator, and landlord labor. The interest on the working fund was the interest on the cash used to meet 

 the current expenses. The work stock cost was the annual cost of keeping the work stock. The implement 

 or machinery cost was the expense of using the implements for the year. The seed cost was the value of the 

 seed used in planting the crops. The fertilizers included commercial fertilizers purchased and the barnyard 

 manure applied. The miscellaneous costs were those peculiar to a crop, such as ginning, thrashing, etc. 



In arriving at the costs, the number of productive days' work, both of man and mule labor, was ascer- 

 tained for each crop, and the total for the farm. The total labor costs were then divided on the basis of 

 the number of productive days' work on each enterprise. If, for example, the cost of man labor on a farm 

 was $750, and the total number of productive days' work was 500, the cost per productive day was SI. 50. 

 If 300 days were used on cotton, 80 on corn, 30 on oats, 30 on cowpeas, 20 on live stock, and 40 on miscel- 

 laneous enterprises, the man-labor charge against the crops would be: Cotton. $450; corn, $140; oats, $45; 

 cowpeas, $45; live stock, $30; and miscellaneous enterprises, $G0. The labor on repairs and upkeep of the 

 farm, which goes as nonproductive labor, or labor from which no direct income was received, was not 

 recorded, but by spreading the labor costs on the basis of productive labor, this was cared for automatically. 

 The mule-labor cost was spread in the same way as that of man-labor. The interest on the working fund 

 was distributed on the basis of man-days and the implement costs on the basis of mule-days. 



