18 
BULLETIN 1400, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
These charges against the product totaled $2,829 on the dairy- 
farms, leaving the operator $1,014 for his pay for the year. These 
farmers had estimated that they would have had to pay $1,022 in 
cash and perquisites to hire done the labor that they did themselves, 
and this indicates that during 1922-23 the dairy farmers made, on 
the average, only pay for their labor with nothing over as pay for 
their management of the farms. 
Table 17. — Distribution of investment for specified groups of farms, April 1, 1922 
Item 
Dairy 
farms 
Small 
dairy 
Mushroom- 
dairy 
Mushroom 
Crop 
Working capital: 
Total 
Dollars 
3,619 
Dollars 
2,643 
Dollars 
4,467 
Dollars 
2,006 
Dollars 
2,831 
2,076 
1, 135 
243 
165 
12,650 
1,518 
816 
178 
131 
10, 189 
2,275 
1,568 
242 
382 
16,097 
718 
896 
101 
291 
13,842 
1,406 
1 067 
Crops on hand 
208 
Cash 
150 
Real estate: 
Total 
14,389 
3,228 
9,422 
3, 178 
7,011 
3,797 
12,300 
4,326 
9,516 
3,310 
11,079 
Land and other buildings 
The differences between the average operator's earnings for the 
different groups of farms shown in Table 16, were not nearly so great 
as were the differences between their cash sales. The expenses on 
the mushroom farms were about double those on the other farms, 
the extra expense being principally 7 for labor, manure, spawn, baskets, 
freight, etc. Even so, the average operator's earnings on the mush- 
room farms, with but 58 acres, were more than $600 above the aver- 
age for the dairy farms, with 105 acres. The mushroom-dairy farms 
showed operator's earnings more than twice those of dairy farms, 
with about the same acreage and the same number of cows. Al- 
though the men who were combining mushroom production with 
dairy farming made the greatest profits, it must be remembered 
that a high degree of skill and management are required to run two 
such complicated businesses in combination and that not all farmers 
have this ability. Moreover, if all farmers in the area were to start 
growing mushrooms, thev could not expect to receive such favorable 
prices as those of 1922 for the greatly increased supply. 
The crop farms, though somewhat larger than the dairy farms, 
showed earnings one-third lower. At this point it should be remem- 
bered that in 1922 crops were relatively lower in price than were 
dairy and poultry products. Had the crops sold been worth one-fifth 
more, w T hich would have brought them to about the usual parity 
w T ith dairy products, the cash income of the crop farms would have 
been increased by about $230, while the income of the dairy farms 
w r ould have been increased but $130. Under these prices the opera- 
tor's earnings on the dairy farms w r ould have been about $190 higher 
than on the crop farms, instead of $290 as in 1922-23. But it would 
seem that even under more typical price conditions the dairy farms 
would be decidedly more profitable than the crop farms. 
The small dairy farms, with but 78 acres and 9.7 cows on the 
average, show 7 ed operator's earnings of. $784, three-fourths as much 
as the average earnings on the larger dairy farms. 
