UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Jk BULLETIN No. 848 
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 
H. C. TAYLOR, Chief 
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Washington, D. C. 
June 22, 1920 
AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF SMALL FARMS NEAR 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
By W. C. FUNK, Assistant Agriculturist. 
Introduction 
Summary of results 
Description of area- 
Kind of farming 
Profits 
Farm receipts 
Farm expenses 
Capital 
. CONTENTS. 
Pag-e. Page. 
1 Comparison of individual farms 9 
2 Truck-crop yields 11 
3 Maintaining soil fertility 12 
3 Increasing acreage by double-cropping _ 13 
6 Machinery and tools 15 
7 Marketing the produce 16 
7 Farm products retained for home use- 17 
8 Tenure 18 
INTRODUCTION. 
This bulletin presents the results of a study of the organization of 
small farms in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. Information was 
obtained regarding the important and outstanding farm practices 
followed on 152 small farms, and an analysis was made of the busi- 
ness of each of these farms to find out the amount of capital used, 
the kind and quantity of crops raised, the kind and amount of live 
stock kept, the nature and volume of receipts, the expenses incurred, 
the returns realized, and other facts bearing on the organization and 
operation of these farms. 
In this study only those men were interviewed who depended on 
the returns from their farms as their main source of income. It was 
an economic study of farming on small areas in which each operator 
devoted most of his time to labor and supervision on the place. Men 
who had a regular occupation away from the farm and spent only 
evenings, holidays, and vacations on their farms were not included, 
