The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-11-07
What are the Profits?

The harvest is nearly ended, says the
Rural Ne,o Yorker There is some corn
to husk, potatoes to dig, roots to gather,
apples to pick, butter and cheese to mar
ket, etc, etc. But the farmer who has
carefully kept account with the different
departments of the farm can approx
mately estimate his profits for the year.
What are theyP We do not ask this
question because we desire it answered
to ourselves, but that each farmer may
answer it to himself. And if he finds
out there are profits, we hope he can put
his finger on his ledger and tell Just
what crops did, and what did not, yield
him his net revenues.
This course we deem absolutely essen
tial to intelligent, economical, and pro-
gressive husbandry. If the blind leads
the blind they both fall in the ditch. If
a mans corn crop has cost him 81 per
bushel, and is worth in market but 10
cents-that is, if he can buy corn for IS
cents per bushel, equally good, the fodder
he gets from the crop grown will scarcely
fill out the margin of difference; and
then, if he blindly goes on raising corn,
year after year, with no knowledge of
what it costs him, it will require the
profits he may derive from some other
crop to counterbalance his loss on corn.
But if he knows what the corn costs him,
and whence the profits he gets are de-
rived, it will be an easy matter, COM
paratively, to stop the leaks and increase
the profits the succeeding year.
Have the profits been derived from
economy, or from iberality of expendi-
INV in, 1o4i 10 io1 In
other words, is there any one crop which
returned 50 for every 81 expended in
producing it; and if the expense of cul-
ture or for plant food per acre had been
increased, would the profits have corre-
spondingly increased? 1? Or has the far
mer found the maximum of expense per
acre it pays to give to any one crop
These are interesting and profitable ques-
tions for him to answer.
The losses of effort and time on farm
are very much greater than most men
realize. The loss of time perhaps is
greater, Notwithstanding the fact that
farmers work so many hours per day.
This loss is not due to the fact that the
time is not all or nearly all occupied, but
to The other fact that it is too often i'm
properly directed, is not economical and
hence is wasted. But if the time abso-
lutely spent in tie production, harvest
ing, and marketing of crop is charged
to that crop, the husbandman soon dis
covers its value, how much it enters into
the cost, and will devise ways and means
to economise it-that is, to expend less
time in producing the same results. The
trouble is, that in making up accounts
with crops too many farmers estimate the
amount of time consumed in their pro-
duction, instead of charging each crop,
daily, with the time actually expended
upon it.
The result of such inquiry as we have
suggested above will be to caues higher
value to be placed upon time, to see that
it is not wasted, and, therefore, better
direction of the effort or force expended
in producing crops. The best ways and
means will be devised and adopted for
doing the most work in the least time
and at the least expense; for every
thoughtful farmer knows that Just in
proportion as he diminishes the cost of
production he enhances his profits.