20 
BULLETIN 999, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
PURCHASING POWER PER ACRE. 
When the crop yield is unusually high, or unusually low, the pur- 
chasing power per bushel does not give an entirely accurate impres- 
sion. For example, in December, 1917, winter wheat had a purchas- 
ing power of 125 per bushel, or was 25 per cent higher than the 
general price level. This is the way the price looked to buyers of 
wheat. But the yield was poor and its purchasing power per acre 
harvested was only 116. Many acres were abandoned and the pur- 
chasing power per acre planted was only 87. Considering all 
farmers as a whole, the price to them was more nearly represented 
PURCHASING POWER OF WINTER WHEAT 
AT 
DECEMBER 1st PRICES 
Fig. 12. — Purchasing power of winter wheat per bushel, per acre sown, and per acre harvested. 
Five-vear averase 1910-1914 is in each case 100. . 
by the last figure, but their situation was somewhat better than 
this because the abandoned acreage did not require the expense of 
harvesting. 
The abandoned acreage for other crops is not known, but it is 
possible to calculate purchasing power per acre harvested. Farm 
prices for other months than December are not available before 
1908. December prices are therefore used. Since most farm prod- 
ucts have declined more than the general price level the figures, 
Tables XX to XXV, pages 67 to 72, do not show the full extent of 
the agricultural panic. 
The purchasing power of cotton is shown in Table XXIV. At the 
farm price December 1, 1920, cotton had a purchasing power of 68 per 
