HABVESTING THE CORN CROP 



247 



Cost of producing 



178. The principal cost factors in producing corn are 

 labor, and rent of land. The cost of seed and fertilizer 

 being minor factors, at present, in the corn-belt, although 



Fig. 86. — Large cement grain tanks, such as are used for storage at 

 terminal markets. (Erie Railway, Chicago, 111.) 



in certain sections of the East and South, the use of fer- 

 tihzers on corn is becoming more common. 



The rent of land is fairly well standardized, being in 

 general about $5 per acre for land capable of producing 

 40 to 50 bushels per acre. The amount of labor varies with 

 soil. The required labor to produce an acre of corn on the 

 heavy clay lands of the East is probably twice that 

 required on the prairie land of Iowa and would be still 



