14 
BULLETIN 941, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
were higher also, but farmers expressed the feeling that increase in 
income more than compensated for the increased expenses. Even 
at this, however, the income of the majority of these farmers was 
none too large to meet a satisfactory standard of living. 
The operation of a general farm with much less than 40 acres of 
land for crops is exceedingly unsatisfactory, regardless of the location 
of the farm, whether among the valleys or among the hills. Size of 
business is an important factor in farming throughout this area, but 
it is also true that the limit to the number of acres of crops which 
can be profitably included in one farm by the average operator is 
reached more quickly with farms of rough and stony character than 
in the case of farms with land more easily cultivated, and perhaps 
this limit has been reached by some of the larger hill farms. 
The hand work involved in making a profit in farming on the poorer 
of the lands in this region is not generally recognized. Much of the 
land throughout the area changes hands often, and many of those 
who purchase such farms, especially those who try to operate small 
farms with limited capital, must face a most difficult economic 
problem. 
Table I. 
-Summary of the jarm business on 31 rolling and hilly jarms and 48 valley 
and level-upland farms, Ozark region, Missouri, 1917. 
Item. 
Rolling and hilly farms. 
Under 
40 crop 
acres (16 
farms). 
40 crop 
acres and 
over (15 
farms). 
All farms 
(31). 
Valley and level-upland farms. 
Under 
40 crop 
acres (12 
farms). 
40 to 70 
crop 
acres (21 
farms). 
70 crop 
acres and 
over (15 
farms). 
All farms 
(48). 
Farm area 
Crop area 
Improved pasture area 
Woods fenced 
Waste and woodland area 
Rented out area 
Capital 
Receipts 
Expenses 
Farm income 
Interest on investment at 5 per 
cent 
Labor income 
Operator's labor 
Farm income 
Value of unpaid family labor.. 
Interest on indebtedness 
Family income 
Per cent return on capital 
Acres. 
128.3 
26.4 
19.4 
40.4 
41.3 
.8 
$3,832 
617 
260 
357 
192 
165 
358 
357 
82 
37 
402 
Acres. 
239.7 
71.8 
33.9 
68.7 
64.4 
$7,133 
1,618 
799 
819 
357 
462 
521 
819 
351 
29 
1,141 
Acres. 
182.1 
48.3 
26.4 
54.1 
52.5 
.8 
$5,430 
1,101 
521 
580 
271 
309 
435 
580 
212 
33 
759 
Acres. 
113.8 
29.1 
23.6 
23.7 
33.2 
4.2 
$4,631 
850 
414 
436 
232 
204 
373 
205 
27 
614 
Acres. 
206.0 
52.4 
48.6 
24.1 
76.7 
4.2 
$8,937 
1,708 
670 
1,038 
447 
591 
455 
1,038 
248 
33 
1,253 
Acres. 
329.8 
105.2 
76.6 
97.9 
46.9 
3.2 
$12,602 
2,887 
1,180 
1,707 
630 
1,077 
483 
1,707 
377 
Acres. 
221.7 
63.1 
51.1 
47.1 
56.5 
3.9 
$9,006 
1,861 
765 
1,096 
450 
646 
444 
1,096 
278 
43 
1,331 
0.03 
4.2 
t. 5 
7.2 
The Ozarks offer certain limited opportunities of acquiring land 
upon which profitable farming may be carried on. Conditions, how- 
ever, are so varied, and, usually, so unlike those to which the average 
newcomer to the Ozarks is accustomed, that no stranger should 
attempt to buy a farm without first making a careful examination 
