52 BULLETIN 1421, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
striving for better quality at lower costs of production, and with 
much lower freight rates in their favor, Northwestern growers must 
expect low prices when there is avery heavy production in the East and 
Middle West. 
TABLE 34.—Business summary for orchard farms, 1919-1922 
Item 1919 1920 1921 1922 
arms studied. mum ber a= eee ee eee 9 | 10 14 10 
Sizeiofiiarm, ACreS 42-252 oe 2 ee ee Se a oe et ee eee 62. 2 59. 6 54.9 55. 6 
Dollars | Dollars | Dollars | Dollars 
Output per ifarm = - 2325 eee a eee ee 9, 469 3, 639 4, 522 2, 246 
Cash: outputssc2 2 S24 es S22 see ee San ee ee 8,873 }. 3, 188 4, 073 | 1, 847 
Mri ts Gn ainbygap pl eS) ese es eee ee eee ee 6, 326 811 2, 612 528 
Other Crops Ee 22s. fe ee Se eee Pe ee 1, 925 1, 727 iLniBy 870 
Salelivestock. e21.0.=3). 5x wens Se Se eee 458 296 84 98 
SaledivestocksproGUClsssn fees Sat eee ees te eee 137 137 108 178 
Other Sources: =. 2685.2 = Be ee 27 217 132 173 
INoncash- Out pul ea ee ee 596 451 449 399 
Ramily perquisites: <5 as See = ee ee 531 451 449 399 
Tn'ereasevin' VENCOLICS#** a= ee | ee Ae ae ee eae GD ii eee | Rie eae on | ee ae 
input per farms (other thantok capital) ees a ees 5, 107 | 3, 477 2, 913 2, 321 
GFF PanaPeenCie Nas Virani NNN time ede ge seo | 4, 060 | 1,835] 1,831 1, 222 
Woncash input 225. oi. ae kee eee ne es | 1,047| 1,642] 1,082 1, 099 
MeCrease Inventories = 2 ee eee Se ee ae ee | eee ee 156 206 227 
Operators labor 22 Seog en = Se a 883 1, 100 716 765 
Unpaid sfamilysiaborm<- 32525 se EE ee eee 164 386 160 107 
Return tO Capital® 2.0 ssc ee Oe ee 4, 362 162 1, 609 75 - 
Re turnstoicapital-ypericent=—- = 22 ee ee ee 12.0 =6 8.7 —.4 
Note.—The total value of the capital used in computing the percentage return to capital is considerably 
aS for 1921 and 1922 than for 1919 and 1920. This is due chiefly to the lower value of real estate per acre 
Table 33). 
RELATIVE RETURNS FROM THREE TYPES OF FARMING 
A comparison of the size of farm, value of real estate per acre, 
capital per farm, and return to capital of the three types of farming 
is presented in Table 35. The dairy farms averaged about 19 acres 
larger than the orchard farms and 4 acres larger than the general 
crop farms. The average capital of the dairy farms was about $4,000 
larger than that of either of the other two groups. During the period 
of deflation, the capital of the orchard farms decreased much faster 
than that of the dairy or the general crop farms, because of the rapid 
drop in the value of the real estate of the orchard group. 
For the four-year period, the dairy farms made the highest average 
net return to the farm capital, the orchard farms second highest 
and the general crop farms the lowest. The orchard farms had one 
excellent year (1919), one fairly good year (1921), and two very poor 
years. During the whole period the business of the dairy farms was 
far more stable than that of the other two groups, because the price 
of dairy products did not fluctuate so widely as did the prices of 
apples and the general field crops. A number of the farms furnished 
the city of Twin Falls with fluid milk. If the industry is expanded 
it must be done with the expectation of marketing the product on 
some other basis than as fluid (market) milk, 
