46 BULLETIN 659, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



Before discussing in detail the cost of production 'of the various 

 crops found on the farms of Ellis County, a brief discussion is here 

 given of the methods used in the determination. The items of cost 

 considered were as follows: Ivent of land; man labor, consisting of 

 hired labor, family labor, and the operators own labor; horse labor; 

 equipment or machinery cost; interest on cash required to operate 

 the farm; seed cost; ginning cost for cotton; and special costs on 

 certain enterprises. 



The rent of land was ascertained from each farmer. All cotton 

 land when rented was worked on the share basis, one-fourth of the 

 crop generally being the landlord's portion. All other crops, such 

 as corn, oats, sorghum, and milo maize, when raised on rented land 

 were produced either on the share basis or cash-rent basis. More 

 often these crops, when raised by tenants, were produced on land 

 for which cash rent was paid; for those crops where the landlord 

 received a share as rent his portion was generally one-third of the 

 crop produced. Since nearly 40 per cent of the land covered by the 

 survey was worked by tenants, there was no difficulty in determining 

 the cash rent per acre on any of the farms. 



Since the rent per acre was determined on the basis of the amount 

 that the landlords received as rent, this item covers a number of 

 minor expenses, such as taxes, insurance of farm buildings, repairs 

 of same, and building depreciation. The rent is determined, to a 

 certain extent, by the yielding power of the land. 



In arriving at the cost of man labor the three component parts 

 were determined separately. The cost of hired labor, consisting of 

 month hands, day hands, and contract work, such as cotton chopping, 

 picking, etc., was obtained directly from each farmer. If any mem- 

 bers of the family did field work, the value of this was obtained and 

 considered as a cost. The value of the operator's own labor was 

 obtained on the basis of what it would cost him to hire another to 

 do his work of management and manual labor equally as well as he 

 himself could do it. It is appreciated that this is an unsatisfactory 

 figure, but tabulations have shown that on the average the farmers 

 were consistent in their estimates of this figure. "When rations were 

 furnished laborers, or where members of the family did farm work, 

 the cost of food bought or furnished this labor was included in the 

 man-labor cost. 



The cost of horse (or mule) labor was subdivided into the follow- 

 ing items: Depreciation; interest on investment in work stock at the 

 beginning of the year; feed cost; shoeing and veterinary charges; 

 and cost of work stock hired by the month or year. Where a crew, 

 consisting of men, team and machinery, was employed for a specific 



