1030 



Costs of Production in Agriculture, [march, 



which gave rise to an animated and inconclusive discussion 

 of experts at a meeting of the British Association two years 

 ago. Another fruitful subject of conflicting views arises 

 from the question : What is the cost of producing beef or 

 mutton ? Some experts say that the profit is nil, others that 

 corn-growing does not pay, but stock-keeping does. The 

 controversy arises because there is no foundation of hard 

 statistical fact on which to build. No one has come forward, 

 for example, to say that he has collated figures from one 

 hundred typical farms, and that the prevailing cost of keeping 

 a horse is so much, and that on the average it works so many 

 hours per diem, two figures which, if obtained, would go 

 far to settling the question. As a rule, farming does pay, 

 but the question as to what description of farming pays best 

 under defined conditions, and why, cannot be answered. 



The method adopted by the United States Bureau of 

 Statistics is to place qualified persons on the farms to keep 

 or obtain records of the times spent on each description of 

 agricultural work, the exact weight, and, as far as possible, 

 cost, of all materials produced or consumed on the farm. 

 The particulars so obtained are carefully abstracted and 

 tabulated, and precise information as to costs is obtained. 

 The following are typical examples : — 

 Average Annual Cost per Acre of Farm Machinery in Minnesota. 



Dollars. 



Binders ... 0*181 (gd.) 



Drills ... 0*075 (3±d.) 



Ploughs 0*087 (4^-) 



Threshing outfit ... 0-335(1^.5^.) 



These figures .are based on averages for a large number of 

 figures for (i) original cost of the machines; (2) number of 

 years in use; (3) depreciation; (4) repairs; (5) acres operated 

 on per year. 



Average Annual Cost of Maintaining a Farm Horse in Minnesota. 



Dollars. 



Interest on investment 5 '54 



Depreciation of horse 5 '56 



harness 2'io 



Shoeing I '42 



Food 63 "49 



Labour n*88 



Miscellaneous 0^40 



Total ... 90-40 [ = £iSi6s.] 



Average number of hours worked per day = 2§ 



Cost per working hour = 0*0925 [= <±'6d.] 



