FARM MANAGEMENT ON IRRIGATED FARMS 27 
ing. This is shown by a comparative analysis of the business of the 
ten 40-acre farms having the highest farm income with the ten having 
the lowest farm income. The average farm income for the farms 
with the best returns amounted to $1,321, whereas for the farms with 
the poorest returns, it was a minus ( — ) $237. In other words. 
the total farm receipts on the poorer farms was 8237 less than the 
total farm expenses. The comparatively high incomes on the best 
farms were not due entirely to advantages in one factor, as price of 
farm products for instance, but rather to a combination of advan- 
tages. A careful selection and apportioning of crop and livestock 
enterprises, crop yields, quality of livestock kept, and the mana- 
gerial ability and industry of the farmers contributed their share 
toward the higher incomes. 
The higher prices received for practically all of the farm products 
sold was one of the most important factors in the net results of the 
farmers with the highest incomes. These farmers, on the average, 
received the following price advantages over the 10 farmers with the 
poorest returns: Alfalfa hay 86.28 per ton, potatoes 84.34 per ton, 
wheat 80.61 per bushel, dairy cows 810 per head, brood sows 816 per 
head, and chickens 80.10 per head. In connection with the price 
of hay, wheat, and hogs, it must be stated that these prices were 
partly influenced by these facts: (1) Most of the hay sold, on the 
high-income farms, was baled at a cost of 82.25 per ton: (2) a large 
part of the wheat was sold, above the market price, for seed; (3) 
and many of the sows were purebred, thereby bringing higher 
prices as breeders. 
The selection of crop and livestock enterprises also had much to 
do with the final results from farming. Price relationships in 1922 
were favorable for alfalfa and unfavorable for potatoes. This was 
important to the success of the best 40-acre farms because they had 
an average of 20 acres devoted to alfalfa as against 16 acres on the 
low-income farms. The high-income farms had an average of 0.8 
acre less of potatoes. Dairy cows were of about equal importance 
in number and production on both groups of farms. The 10 best 
farms had a total of 18 sows as against 10 for the other farms, which 
helped to account for the much larger returns from hogs sold. Hens 
were more numerous on the farms with low returns, averaging 66 
per farm as against 52 for the best farms, but the quality of the hens 
was better on the farms with the highest returns. These farms sold 
an average of 98 eggs per hen, as against 59 for the poorer farms. 
Crop yields contributed their share to the success of many farms 
in this area. The 10 best farms had the following advantages over 
the low-income farm in crop yields per acre: Alfalfa 26 per cent, 
potatoes 18 per cent, wheat 110 per cent. 
More labor was used by the most successful farmers which is to be 
expected on account of the greater crop yields. These farmers used 
an average of 0.8 month more of hired labor and exchanged one-third 
more labor than the farmers on the low-income farms. The amount 
of labor contributed during the year by the operator and his family 
was the same in both cases. 
The managerial ability of the operator is often an important fac- 
tor in determining the size of the income on a farm. Tins is illus- 
