30 BULLETIN 920, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
total expense. Purchased feeds showed the largest percentage in 
1917 and 1918, during which years the proportional expense for hired 
labor fell off sharply. The expenses for the seven-year average were 
about one-third of the receipts. When the value of the farmer’s labor 
and 5 per cent interest on the capital are included the total costs 
equal 93 per cent of the income. 
FARM EARNINGS. 
The farm income, or the receipts less the expenses, averaged 
$1,856 per farm for the seven-year period. It was highest in 1918, 
when it reached almost $3,000, and lowest in 1910, when it was 
slightly less than $1,300. Comparing the first two years with the 
last two, the data show that receipts Increased 87 per cent and ex- 
penses 86 per cent. The seven-year average labor income of the 
farms in this area was $558, ranging from $44 in 1914 to $1, 421 in 
1918. The return on the farm capital averaged 5.7 per cent, being 
as low as 3.9 per cent in 1914 and as high as 7.9 per cent in 1918. 
The farm earnings, whether expressed as labor income or as per 
cent return on capital, were low during the four years of low-price 
- Tevels, but showed a marked increase during the last three years, 
when prices were higher. The average labor income of the 100 farms 
for the four years 1910 and 1913-1915 was $205; for the three years. 
1916-1918 it was $1,028. Thereturn on capital for the earlier period 
averaged 44 per cent and for the latter period 7 per cent. 
The family income, which represents the amount of money avail- 
able to the family after deducting from the total receipts the farm 
expenses, including interest paid upon indebtedness but exclusive 
of the value of family labor or the farmer’s own labor, averaged 
$1,886 per farm for the seven-year period, ranging from $1,288 in 1910 
to $3,043 in 1918. About one-third of these farms had indebtedness 
varying from $200 to $12,000 per farm. 
Figure 12 shows graphically the distribution of the average gross 
income on these farms for each year and for the seven-year period. 
This chart shows how much of the gross income is represented by 
operating expenses, interest on capital, unpaid family labor, and food 
products, fuel, and house rent furnished by the farm. Receipts 
increased materially during the latter part of the period of study, 
and though expenses also increased the spread between the two 
became wider, so that the amount left for the farmer’s own wages 
(labor income) grew larger toward the close of the period. 
Owing to the capital value of farms in this area being more than in 
the other areas studied, the item of interest for the seven-year period 
averaged $1,298 perfarm. Because of the size of this item, the avail- 
able income on many oi these farms, if free from debt, may be fairly 
large, owing to the fact that the interest for the use of capital does 
not have to be paid out. On many farms where the capital repre- 
