14 BULLETIN 716, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The farm receipts for three years were within 6 per cent of the 
five-year average receipts, for one year they were almost 15 per cent 
below the average, and for the other year they were 20 per cent above 
the average. 
The farm expenses increased each year except in 1913, when they 
were lower than for any other year. The sales were also the lowest 
in 1913. 
The farm profits, whether measured by the labor income or by the 
per cent on the investment, were within 20 per cent of the five-year 
average for three of the years, while in 1913 they were about 40 per 
cent below the average, and 70 per cent above in 1916. 
In 1912 one-third of the farmers were in debt, the indebtedness 
varying in amount from $150 to $3,000; in 1916 only 1 in 6 was in 
debt. During this period the mortgages on four farms were paid off 
with money made from the farming, and on three others the mort- 
gages were decreased, while the amount was increased on but one. 
Indebtedness decreased more rapidly during the years showing 
greater profits, while in 1913, the year returning least profits, there 
was no decrease in the indebtedness. 
The yield per acre of crops, the receipts per animal unit from live 
stock, the price received for products, and the amount of the products 
available for sale are all important factors with considerable varia- 
tions during the different years. For comparison these are shown for 
each year in the summary table (Table I) as percentages of the five- 
year average. 
The yield per acre of the more important crops for the different 
years varied from 89 per cent to 110 per cent of the five-year aver- 
age; the receipts per animal unit from 93 per cent to 113 per cent; 
the price received for farm products from 91 per cent to 112 per 
cent ; and the quantity of products sold from 81 per cent to 109 per 
cent. 
THE FARM AREA. 
The farm area for a farm includes the entire acreage operated as 
one farm. The land may be all owned bj^ the operator, it may be all 
rented-, or it may be partly owned and partly rented. Of the farm 
area included in this group of farms 90 per cent was owned by oper- 
ators, 8 per cent cash rented, and 2 per cent share rented. 
The slight variations in the farm area from year to year shown in 
Table I were due to variations in the acreage owned by four farm- 
ers — one selling part of his farm and three buying more land — and to 
yearly variations in the acreages share rented by a few farmers. 
The land share rented usually represented single fields and included 
fields in corn, wheat, oats, and hay. 
