68o Cost of Producing Farm Products. [feb., 



Mifinesota Agricultural Experimental Station, in conjunction 

 with the United States Department of Agriculture, devised an 

 elaborate system of collecting statistics on all subjects con- 

 nected with the cost of production, for the purpose of showing 

 by figures based on the average results from a number of farms 

 what was the average cost per acre of producing different crops, 

 the net profit from different s}'stems of rotations, and similar 

 data. 



Three young men, students at the College, were employed 

 continuously at this work for three years, and kept elaborate 

 records of the whole work and life of about eight farms each. 

 Each group of farms was situated in a different district in the 

 State of Minnesota, and the collector visited the farms assigned 

 to him daily, residing at them each in turn for three days a 

 month. At the beginning and close of each }-ear complete 

 inventories were taken of all live stock, machinery, feeding 

 stuffs, etc., and during the year an account was kept of all 

 receipts and payments, of the amount of labour both by men 

 and horses given to each crop, of the extent to which machinery 

 was used for each crop so as to allot a proper proportion of the 

 cost to each, and of similar details. During the three days 

 spent on each farm, the collectors ascertained by weighing and 

 measuring the amount of feeding stuffs given to the live stock, 

 and the yield of milk and the percentage of butter-fat from each 

 cow in the herd. The feeding records and yields of products 

 thus obtained were, reduced to a daily average and combined 

 with results from the other farms. The household consumption 

 was also recorded to show the value of the board given with 

 wages. 



The actual results are in themselves of little interest to 

 growers in this country, but it may be pointed out that besides 

 the bare facts as to the cost of growing certain crops, they afford 

 an opportunity for experimental work of great usefulness to 

 farmers, by enabling a comparison to be made of the cash 

 results obtainable from different systems of feeding or from 

 different crops. An example may be taken from the Bulletin 

 in which these results are published,* where the results of 

 feeding cows on the produce of ten acres of clover and timothy 



* Bureau of Statistics. Bulletin No. 48. 



