Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-10-18
The Cost of Wheat Growing.

bushel of wheat is one of such practical
importance that it receives a great
deal of attention. Of course, the act
ual cost cannot be accurately estimat-
ed. 1t depends principally on the
number of bushels produced on the
acre and the cost of fertilizer used. 1t
costs but little more to raise forty
bushels of wheat on rich land than it
costs to raise twenty bushels on poor
land.
Mr.. Henry Onderdonk, the head
master of the College of st. James, in
Washington county, has in the college
property some thirty or forty acres Of
good land. As he is an observant
gentleman and fond Of learning the
truth about things, he this year made
an experiment, the result Of which he
sends to the SIN, He sowed eight
acres of land in wheat, and as he does
not possess the appliances for farming,
employed one of his neighbors to do
the work and paid for the whole in
cash. He therefore knows accurately
what the wheat cost him and what he
received for it.
The field had been in corn and there
fore did not require to be fallowed.
The cost Of the crop was as follows;
Labor and shovel blowing, $9.43 !;
phosphate, SIS; seed, including timo-
thy seed, $3.50; harvesting, &C., SCI !;
threshing, $l0.4O; hauling to mill, So
60; total cost of the crop, $67.93.
The yield was 1853 bushels at so cents,
$8788. Surplus $l9.65. To this
Mr. Onderdonk says must be added
the straw, which was worth to him
500, making a total profit of $40 on
the eight acres, or over 6 per cent In
terest on 5000, the value Of the land
The result of this experiment IN
wheat-growing at so cents bushel
was entirely satisfactory. But If MIR.
Onderdonk had been engaged in farm
ing as his regular and only occupation
he would probably have found the
outcome not so pleasing.
Let us suppose that instead Of the
eight acres he had been farming a 200
acre farm, worth, say, $4,000. Ac-
cording to the usual rule about one
third of this, say 70 acres, would be
in wheat, which would be the great
money crop out of which not only the
expense Of farming those 70 acres
must be paid, but the general expenses
of the whole farm. He would find in
the first place that he could not afford
to sell the straw. 1t must all be kept
on the farm to be turned into manure
for the next crop, otherwise that crop
would be diminished and the fertility
and value of the farm impaired. The
money value of the crop on the eight
acres, exclusive of the straw, was $50,
or $3.50 an acre. This would bring
the net value of the crop on the 200
acre farm down to $l75. The tax bill
on such a farm would be about 500 a
year. The other general expenses are
the cost of fencing the deterioration
of machinery, repairs to buildings, IN
surance and hundred little bills which
have to be paid continually. The corn
crop on such a farm would be about
40 acres, which should produce ovel
1000 bushels, one-half of which is re-
quired on the farm, and the cost Of
production must come out Of the other
half. In order to pay the expenses o.
the farm, therefore, there must be hay
and cloverseed and increase Of live
stock to sell. At the end of the aver.
age year, if the owner Of the 2OO-acre
farm finds that he has enough left tc
clothe himself and family and to pay
the expenses of ordinarily comfortable
living without going into debt, he is
very well satisfied, without looking
for any interest on his investment
other than his living. To this he i
entitled for his work and that of hi
wife, who has to work even harder
than her husband. Baltimore SIN.