12 
BULLETIN 651, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
corn as it is with cotton. In Table VI the farms are grouped on 
the basis of yield of com per acre. Twenty-five farms, producing 
11 bushels or under per acre, grew corn at a cost of $1.48 per bushel. 
Twenty- three farms that made from 12 to 15 bushels per acre pro- 
duced corn at $1.14 per bushel, or 25 cents per bushel less than the 
cost for the first group. Thus costs steadily decrease as yields 
increase. In the group with the highest yields, 19 farms, making 26 
bushels or more per acre, the cost was but 77 cents per bushel. 
Table VI. — Relation of yield to cost of producing corn. 
Bushels of corn per acre. 
Number 
of farms. 
Average 
yielcL 
Cost per 
bushel. 
25 
23 
19 
24 
19 
Bushels. 
9.5 
13.5 
17.5 
22.3 
29.1 
81.48 
12 to 15 
1.14 
16 to 19.. . 
.94 
20 to 25 
.86 
.77 
Cotton did not pay the cost of production until the yield was 240 
pounds of Lint per acre and corn not until the yield was 17 bushels 
per acre. In other words, taking an average of the farms, cotton, 
when costs are computed by standard cost-accounting methods, was 
produced at a profit only when yields were more than 240 pounds 
per acre and corn when yields were more than 17 bushels per acre. 
This gives an idea of the yields farmers in this territory must obtain 
to make the production of these crops profitable. 
The most striking reduction in costs with increase in yield is in the 
man labor and mule labor per crop unit. Rent, equipment, and seed 
costs also decrease with increasing yield, but these are of less im- 
portance in this area. On the other hand, fertilizer costs per unit are 
highest where the best yields are made. Man labor and mule labor, 
which on 112 farms constituted five-eighths of the cost of growing 
cotton and nearly one-half of the cost of growing corn, are the items 
in which the greatest difference occurs. The labor per acre increases 
with yields, but the labor per unit decreases, for, outside of harvest- 
ing, very nearly the same labor is required whether the yields are 
high or low; and the variation in mule labor, even in harvesting, is of 
little consequence. 
HOW HIGH YIELDS ARE OBTAINED. 
The weather during the growing season has much to do with the 
yield of any crop. But since all these yields were obtained hi the 
same season and in the same locality, differences in the weather can 
not account for the differences in yield observed on these farms. The 
character of the soil is another important factor, but the soil is 
approximately of the same type on all farms included hi this survey. 
The previous treatment of the soil differs widely from farm to farm 
