FARMERS' EARNINGS IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 7 
chinery, building materials, and many similar factors were still 
much above pre-war prices, but these are not very important items. 
As shown in Table 3, this was not characteristic of all expenses. Of 
four important items of expense — labor, feed, fertilizer, and taxes — 
mill feeds were, on the average, no higher than dairy products; 
acid phosphate was relatively as low as most crops; wages of farm 
labor, however, were further above the pre-war level than any of 
the farm products shown; while land taxes were still about as high 
as during the war, and much above the pre-war level. Altogether, 
the economic conditions of 1922-23 were quite different from previous 
conditions in the area. 
Table 3. 
-Prices of important items of expense of Chester County farmers, averages 
1890-1923, annual 1922 
Years 
Farm 
labor 
by 
month 
with 
board 
Bran at 
Minnea- 
polis, 
per ton 
Cotton- 
seed meal 
at New 
York, 
per ton 
Acid 
phos- 
phate at 
New 
York, 
per ton 
Prices in per cent of the 1910-14 averages 
Average: 
1890-1899 
Dollars 
14.11 
18.19 
19.75 
29.36 
38.25 
33.00 
Dollars 
Dollars 
21.96 
27.75 
31.37 
48.51 
51.57 
48.79 
Dollars 
Per cent 
71 
92 
100 
149 
194 
167 
Per cent 
Per cent 
70 
88 
100 
155 
164 
156 
Per cent 
1900-1909 
1910-1914. 
i 19. 69 
28.72 
26.29 
20.12 
17.43 
7.96 
13.83 
8.89 
1100 
146 
134 
102 
UOO 
1915-1919 
107 
1920-23. 
186 
1922 . 
120 
> 1913-14 only. 
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor, and the Division of Crop Estimates, 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
RELATION OF 1922-23 TO FUTURE CONDITIONS 
It is not possible to tell very definitely to just what extent future 
conditions will differ from those prevailing, during the year of the 
survey. It seems fairly certain, however, that under ordinary 
conditions the cash crops and meat animals will return somewhat 
more than they did during that year relative to the dairy and poul- 
try enterprises. It seems also reasonable to assume that, when 
the readjustment following the war period is complete, the prices 
of the various items of farm expense will not be so far out of line with 
the prices of farm products as they were during 1922. Taken alto- 
gether, the economic conditions in this region were such as to make 
the farm year 1922-23 one of rather low returns; and therefore the 
net earnings on various types of farms were probably somewhat 
lower the year of the survey than they would be under more stable 
conditions. 
FARM ORGANIZATION IN THE AREA 
CROPPING SYSTEM 
The farms in this region vary widely in size and to some extent in 
the adaptability of the land to different uses. The crops grown 
and the livestock kept therefore vary somewhat with the possibilities 
of individual farms, as well as with the preferences of individual 
farmers. Dairy farming is the dominant type, as shown by the 
