2 BULLETTX 1271, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The analytical study x here summarized was undertaken in order 
to measure the effect of differences in methods and material resources 
on the efficiency of farm operations, so that farmers to whose farms 
the results apply may make such prompt and satisfactory adjust- 
ments in their productive enterprises as will increase their returns. 
The farmers who contributed the details of their operations live in 
Cottonwood and Jackson Counties, Minn., and represent the present 
general scheme of farm organization and operation in effect in that 
section of the State. Their present practice reflects their past experi- 
ence and their theory of production economics, so far as circumstances 
have made it possible to put them into effect. 
The discussion of the data is presented in three parts: 
(1) An account of the development of the agriculture of the area 
from the time of settlement, showing the changes in the crop and live- 
stock enterprises, with some of the main reasons therefor, and leading 
up to the present conditions under which farming is conducted. 
(2) A detailed statement and analysis of the amounts and distribu- 
tion of labor and materials used in the production of the different 
crops and classes of livestock on the farms contributing data and of 
the miscellaneous work incident to the operation of these farms. 
(3) A discussion of the principles involved in the applications of 
the data to the constantly recurring problems of choice, combination, 
and adjustment of enterprises to changing economic conditions and 
to other more local conditions on particular farms, together with 
illustrations. 
DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE AREA 
The farms studied are located in Cottonwood and Jackson Counties. 
They are grouped about Windom, the county seat of Cottonwood 
County. This city had a population of 2,123 in 1920. It is the 
principal market town of the communit}^. The townships in which 
these farms are located are outlined on the State map in Figure 1. 
The prevailing soil type in this area is a rich black bowlder clay 
with a pebbly clay loam subsoil. By far the larger part of the soil of 
southwestern Minnesota is of this type. Small areas of outwash 
sand and gravel are found, but they contain sufficient clay to be fairly 
productive. Most of this area is level. Natural drainage has to be 
supplemented with tile on the majority of these farms to make the 
entire area tillable every year. There is no natural timber except 
along the streams and lakes. Practically the entire acreage of every 
farm is tillable except for some low, undrained areas that are pastured 
or cut for hay. 
i This study was conducted cooperatively by the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management of the 
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Division of Cost of Production and the Division of 
Farm Management of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The 
authors wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance received from the chiefs and staffs of these divisions 
in outlining and developing this stud v, and especiallvin their carefuland thorough review of the manuscript. 
They also wish to thank Donald Jackson of the Division of Statistical and Historical Reseraoh, Bureau Of 
Agricultural Economics, who assisted in the collection of the historical data, Russell O. EngDerg and 
Andrew T. Hoverstad of the Division of Agronomy and Farm Management, Minnesota Experiment 
Station, who assisted in collecting and tabulating the data and preparing them for tabular and grapnio 
presentation, and C. O. Ruud, route statistician at Windom, Minn., who collected the data m the field. 
The thanks of the authors and of the departments making this study are due the following far men for 
their cooperation in furnishing these data: Andrew T. Anderson, Ralph Asquith, Lewis Behrens, Matt 
Brugman, CJuy Dryden, Merton W. Dyer, John Eidem, Frank Engle, Brown Erickson, H. A. Predenck, 
Walter L. Frost, Arnold Graue, Albert Grunenwald, John F. Qustafsor, Herbert llocke, John R.Jacobson, 
PerryM.Jcnoks.J. E. Johnson, Clarence E. Morton, Andre* Olson. Henry F.Otto, Emil Paulson, George 
Price, II. M. Rasmussen, Arnold Rledesel, John W. Satorius, Arthur Schaffer, E. H. Showman, Lester 
B . smith, Soggo & i\< mi , Henry J. Thake, John E. Timmons, Brn Vaske, H. H. Wier, Uenry >\ ill, and 
K. E. Wing. 
