GRAIN FARMING IN NORTH DAKOTA. 
33 
year. This factor is and will continue to be of great importance in 
maintaining yields within the State. 
There has been a marked improvement in the utilization of straw 
within the last 10 years. Formerly, it was a common sight at night 
in the late summer or fall to see from 50 to 100 straw piles burning 
within the circle of the horizon. At present the amount of straw 
burned is greatly reduced, since its value as feed, and as fertilizer 
when rotted, is becoming better understood. 
SUMMARY OF COST FACTORS. 
In order that a basis may be available for determining the values 
of various items that enter into the cost of production of grain in 
North Dakota, the various cost factors for the four leading crops are 
summarized in Table VIII. Practice varies from farm to farm, but 
the figures given are based on 350 farm records, and may be taken as 
representative. 
Table VIII. — Summary of items entering into the cost of raising wheat, oats, 
barley, and flax in North Dakota. 
Wheat 
Oats. 
Barley. 
Flax. 
Seed, bushels per acre 
Man labor, days per acre . . . 
Horse labor, days per acre.. 
Use of machinery, per acre . 
Twine, pounds per acre 
Thrashing, cents per bushel 
Management 
Use of land, per acre 
Manure, tons per acre 
1.2 
.64 
1.94 
18 per cent of 
first cost 
divided by 
number of 
crop acres 
in farm. 
1.78 
10 (15) 
$1.09 per man 
day on crop. 
6 per cent of 
land value. 
0.65 
2.0 
.74 
Same as for 
wheat. 
1.88 
6(9) 
Same as for 
wheat. 
do 
.do.... 
1.7 
.71 
2.11 
Same as for 
wheat. 
1.75 
6 (10) 
Same as for 
wheat. 
do 
.do 
0.5 
.66 
2.33 
Same as for 
wheat. 
1.33 
20 (35) 
Same as for 
wheat. 
Do. 
Do. 
" Man labor, days per acre " and " Horse labor, days per acre " in- 
clude all the work done upon the respective crops except thrashing, 
which is accounted for in the direct thrashing charge per bushel. 
Among the items included in the labor are plowing, disking, har- 
rowing, planting, cutting and shocking, hauling grain from thrashing 
machine, and hauling grain from farm to elevator. In cases in which 
time was occupied in cleaning and treating grain or by any other 
operations in connection with the crops, this labor has been included. 
Under " Use of machinery " it is found that the sum of interest on 
investment, depreciation cost, and repair cost amounts to 18 per cent 
of the new value of the equipment utilized on the farm, excluding 
from- all calculations tractors, thrashing rigs and automobiles. Since 
all crops require so nearly the same use of machinery, as indicated by 
