12 



BULLETIN (m1, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



com as it is with cotton. In Table VI the farms are grouped on 

 the basis of yield of corn per acre. Twenty-five farms, producing 

 11 bushels or under per acre, grew corn at a cost of $1.48 per bushel. 

 Twenty-three farms that made from 12 to 15 bushels per acre pro- 

 duced corn at $1.14 per bushel, or 25 cents per bushel less than the 

 cost for the first group. Thus costs steadily decrease as yields 

 increase. In the group with the highest yields, 19 farms, making 26 

 bushels or more per acre, the cost was but 77 cents per bushel. 



Table VI. — Relation of yield to cost of producing corn. 



Bushels of corn per acre. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 

 yield. 



Cost per 

 bushel. 





25 

 23 

 19 

 24 



19 



Bushels. 

 9.5 

 13.5 

 17.5 

 22.3 

 29.1 



81.48 



12 to 15 



1.14 



16 to 19.. .. 



.94 



20 to 25 



.86 





.77 







Cotton did not pay the cost of production until the yield was 240 

 pounds of lint per acre and corn not until the yield was 17 bushels 

 per acre. In other words, taking an average of the farms, cotton, 

 when costs are computed by standard cost-accounting methods, was 

 produced at a profit only when yields were more than 240 pounds 

 per acre and corn when yields were more than 17 bushels per acre. 

 This gives an idea of the yields farmers in this territory must obtain 

 to make the production of these crops profitable. 



The most striking reduction in costs with increase in yield is in the 

 man labor and mule labor per crop unit. Rent, equipment, and seed 

 costs also decrease with increasing yield, but these are of less im- 

 portance in this area. On the other hand, fertilizer costs per unit are 

 highest where the best yields are made. Man labor and mule labor, 

 which on 112 farms constituted five-eighths of the cost of growing 

 cotton and nearly one-half of the cost of growing corn, are the items 

 in which the greatest difference occurs. The labor per acre increases 

 with yields, but the labor per unit decreases, for, outside of harvest- 

 ing, very nearly the same labor is required whether the yields are 

 high or low ; and the variation in mule labor, even in harvesting, is of 

 little consequence. 



HOW HIGH YIELDS ARE OBTAINED. 



The weather during the growing season has much to do with the 

 yield of any crop. But since all these yields were obtained in the 

 same season and in the same locality, differences in the weather can 

 not account for the differences hi yield observed on these farms. The 

 character of the soil is another important factor, but the soil is 

 approximately of the same type on all farms included in this survey. 

 The previous treatment of the soil differs widely from farm to farm 



