38 
BULLETIN 1188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
as well as the cost per unit of labor and materials for different years, 
it is possible to determine the general trend of costs and prices for 
different years. Table 41 has been constructed on this basis. 
The items which do not vary with yield, such as cultural labor, 
seed, fertilizer, and overhead, are assumed to be the same from year 
to year, varying only with the cost per unit. Harvesting and market- 
ing labor and containers were increased or decreased according to the 
yields. The prices applied to these data were average prices for the 
State as reported by the Bureau of Crop Estimates, as were also the 
yields and prices received per bushel. The data in Table 41 should, 
therefore, not be taken as absolute costs but as trends of costs. 
Table 41. — Trend of cost per acre, cost per bushel, and price per bushel received, 1913- 
1921. 
Minnesota. 
Wisconsin. 
Michigan. 
New York. 
Maine. 
Year. 
Cost. 
Cost. 
Cost. 
Cost, 
Cost. 
■D • 
T> • 
Price 
per 
Price 
per 
Price 
per 
per 
Per 
Per 
bush. 
Per 
Per 
bush. 
Per 
Per 
bush. 
Per 
Per 
bush. 
Per 
Per 
bush. 
acre. 
bush. 
acre. 
bush. 
acre. 
bush. 
acre. 
bush. 
acre. 
bush. 
1921 .... 
$52 
$0.58 
$1.02 
$67 
$0.68 $1.22 
$61 
$0.60 
$1.19 
$82 
$0.72 
$1.24 
$186 
$0.61 
$0.97 
1920.... 
149 
1.32 
.78 
155 
.98 
.84 
129 
.94 
.78 
152 
1.08 
.92 
284 
1.50 
.84 
19191... 
83 
.80 
2.15 
98 
.72 
1.99 
87 
.74 
2.04 
107 
.87 
2.07 
220 
.79 
1.86 
1918.... 
72 
.58 
.79 
86 
.54 
.87 
74 
.68 
1.04 
94 
.86 
1.28 
194 
.92 
1.16 
1917.... 
102 
.76 
.82 
107 
.65 
.80 
92 
.74 
.92 
94 
.90 
1.19 
194 
1.47 
1.26 
1916.... 
52 
.72 
1.58 
58 
.85 
1.70 
55 
.89 
1.84 
70 
.90 
1.92 
141 
.65 
1.73 
1915.... 
47 
.37 
.51 
51 
.40 
.58 
44 
.58 
.67 
53 
.77 
.89 
106 
.56 
.80 
1914.... 
48 
.36 
.37 
56 
.31 
.37 
51 
.33 
.36 
67 
.41 
.48 
117 
.43 
.35 
1913 
43 
.33 
.50 
51 
. 32 . 53 
46 
.38 
.00 
56 
.67 
.82 
107 
.46 
.55 
1 For 1919 cost per acre and per bushel as obtained in this investigation, see Table 8. 
Probably the most striking thing shown by this table is the 
marked variation in costs for successive years. The costs are usu- 
ally high when the price received is low, and vice versa. Tables 42 
and 43 are shown to point out the variation in two of the important 
contributing costs — seed and labor. The years with outstanding 
high seed-potato prices were 1914, 1917, and 1920, as shown in 
Table 42. By referring to Table 41 it will be observed that these 
were the years when the price received for the crop was relatively 
low per bushel. Similarly, in years when the seed cost was rela- 
tively low the margin between the cost of production and the price 
received was greatest. The grower who contemplates changing his 
acreage materially when seed prices are relatively high or low should 
carefully study acreage, yields, and prices in previous years when 
similar conditions prevailed, to see what normally may be expected 
before making his decision. 
