Cost Of Growing Corn

A week ago was pnnted the last ol Orange Judd Farmer's (western edition American Agriculturalist) series oí articles upon the eost of growing corn. It is a difficult matter to secure an exact record of the labor and other items of entering into the production of a given erop upon a single iarm. We have presented, however, such an exact record for the corn erop grown on 2,632 acres located in 96 counties of the eight great corn states. This marks this investigation as the most complete of the kind ever undertaken and the conclusions reached are valuable in proportiou. Wlieu it is uuderstood that a daily record was secured frorn individual crops from the entering of the plow into ground in the spring up to cribbing the last ear of corn, the magnitude of the undertaking will be realized. These daily records sliowed every hour of labor given to the erop and every poásible item of charge against it, so that, with the exception of tyo items that cannot be made matters of record, iu no particular do the conclusions reached rest upon mere guess work. In reducing these records to a showing of actual cost production wherever wages were paid, whether by the day or by the month, the cost has been figured on that basis; where the labor incident to ttíe making of the erop was performed by the owner or his family, wages have been allowed at the current rate paid in that locality by the month. The result of this investigation shows the actual cost of growing 113,049 bushels of corn on 2,632 acres to have been as follows: Per acre. Perbu. Taxation, ÍU.2TS Í0.000 Keinoving stalks, .03L .001 Plowing, har'ng and planting, .549 .013 Seed cora, Ml .002 Cultivation, .569 .013 Gatheringand cribbtEg, Irí38 .U26 Total from actual records, S.6U7 .061 Est.teamraaintenai.ee, .314 .007 Est. depreciation maemnery, .266 ' .006 Gross cost, $3187 S.074 Less value of fodder. .594 .OH Net cost, 82.593 .06 That corn eau be grown at a cost of 6 cents a busliei vvill be a surprise to the best posted, yet these exact records, kept by growers themselves, prove it. If it be desired to add interest on money invested, which however is not a part of tb e actual cost af the erop, the average value of the land used in making this erop was $39.26, aud to this must be added a proper allowance for the equipment of the farm. The question of what corn can be sold at so as to make farming pay, is auother matter altogether. If only corn is grown the farmer would be idle six months in the year and his profit on the erop cüust be sufficient to cover this period when his labor is not productive. If hisinvestment be reckoned at $50 per acre, an allowance of 6 per cent for the use of his money would niitke the selling price of his erop covered by this investigation 13 cents, but such a price would barely pay hini wages for his personal labor for six months. leaying him idle for the other six, or forcing him to live upon the earnings of his capital. In figuring cost of production in every business, thewage allowance covers the whole year and in farming it must be the same. It follows, therefore, that the selling price of tbis corn erop must be not less than 18 cents in order to give the producer a net protit of 6 per cent upon the capital which his thrift has aceuinulated. In this light, when corn se!ls upon the farm, as did last year, at less than 18 cents a bushei, its production is a losing veuture, and while 6 cents represents the actual cost to the growor, it cannot be profltably grown to sell at very inuch less than "three tiuies that figure. These inval uable records should be carefully preserved for reference. They will help you to make the most out of your own "erop, hinting at leaks which you can prevent another year. The titles and dates of the different papers in the series are as follows: Scope of the Inquiry, July 17; Labor and Wages, July 24; Preparation and Plowing. July 31; Fertilization, Aug. 7; Planting, Aug. 14; Cultivation, Aug. 21; Harvest and Production, Aug. 28; Marketing, Sept. 4, and General Keview of Cost, Sept.