#ARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA. 37 
The 213 farms having 10 to 19 per cent of wheat acreage made 
profits considerably above the average. In the next higher group 
there are 121 farms, sufficient to give an average having a definite 
meaning. Their labor incomes averaged 10 per cent lower than in 
the preceding group. In the remaining group the number of farms 
‘is small, and they need not be considered. The results for the first, 
second, and third groups are apparently conclusive. They indicate 
that an acreage of wheat equal to 10 to 19 per cent of the total crop 
area is more profitable on these farms under normal conditions than 
either a larger or a smaller acreage. This merely means that wheat 
should here occupy one year in the rotation. But it appears to be 
more profitable to run wheat twice,in the rotation than to omit it 
altogether. | 
It is interesting to note that not only is the largest number of 
farms in this most profitable group, but the average for the 378 
farms falls within the limits of this group. Wheat has occupied 
approximately its present position in the agriculture of this region 
for more than a century, a sufficient length of time for the farmers 
to have found the most profitable acreage of it. Yet the facts have 
not been definitely recognized by these farmers. Many of them 
grow either more or less wheat than these results indicate they 
should. 
The figures for percentage of income from wheat are in close 
agreement with the above, and confirm the conclusion that on the 
major portion of these farms this crop occupies its proper position, 
as is seen in Table XIII. 
TABLE XIII.—Relation of percentage of income from wheat to labor income. 
Per cent of income from wheat........-------..------ SSO NABCCE None. 1to9. | 10to19. 20+. 
INDO OT IRONS ahs SSeS ae cne See be der acre pce. pap Eten anor 36 204 121 17 
Een Msredslaporniincome soi oh se (a. soe eee so amcecocees les ae 79 121 82 19 
Average percentage of wheat area on the 378 farms, 18.2. 
Thirty-six farms sold no wheat. Their labor incomes average 
much lower than the general average. Two hundred and four farms 
derive from 1 to 9 per cent of their income from the sale of wheat. 
Their profits are much above the average. One hundred and twenty- 
one farms received from 10 to 19 per cent of their income from this 
source and made profits much below the average. The number of 
farms deriving more than 20 per cent of their income from wheat is 
small. This fact is in itself significant. While their number is too 
small to give a very significant average, the fact that this average is 
exceedingly low is consistent with the other data of this table and 
