COST OF PRODUCING WHEAT. 25 
bushel costs. A number of such farms reported yields as high as 
15 to 25 bushels per acre. The farms on which the cost per bushel 
was exceptionally high reported yields ranging from less than 3 bushels 
to 8 and 10 bushels per acre. A number of the farmers with the 
higher costs abandoned a part of their wheat acreage because it was 
totally destroyed or in such condition that it was not worth the 
expense of harvesting. 
ANALYSIS OF ITEMS OF COST. 
The labor costs and other items of expense entering into the cost 
of wheat production have been expressed in terms of hours of labor 
and quantities of seed, twine, etc., wherever possible. This has been 
done because requirements expressed in these terms are more valuable 
for purposes of comparison than when expressed in the less stable 
terms of dollars and cents. These cost factors have been treated 
under the general headings, ''Labor," ''Material" "Thrashing," 
"Use cost of land," and "Other costs." 
LABOR. 
AVERAGE HOURS OF MAN AND HORSE LABOR PER ACRE. 
Table XII shows the average number of hours per acre devoted to 
wheat production in the various regions studied. 
The figures shown are averages for only those farms operated with 
horses, all farms on which the tractor or motor truck was used having 
been omitted in this tabulation. 
The average hours per acre of man and horse labor for each dis- 
trict are representative, with the exception of any variation caused 
by different practices followed in providing labor for thrashing. In 
the spring-wheat areas the farmers furnished the thrashing crews 
in Morton, Clay, and Traverse Counties, and the total man and horse 
hours include all labor for hauling and pitching bundles in these 
counties. But in Grand Forks and Spink Counties the owner of the 
thrashing machine furnished the men and teams for thrashing, and 
this labor, which would amount to about 1^ man and 2^ horse hours 
per acre, is not included in the averages shown in Table XII. 
In the Kansas areas and Saline County, Mo., the crew was furnished 
by both farmers and thrashermen. Had the farmer furnished the 
entire crew the average hours of production would have been increased 
by about 1 man-hour per acre. 
In all other winter- wheat areas, excepting Saline County, Mo., the 
thrashing crews, and therefore the thrashing labor, are included in 
the averages for these areas. 
In the spring-wheat areas the average man-hours varied from nearly 
six hours per acre in Grand Forks County, N. Dak., to about nine hours 
26218°— 21 4 
