The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-11-15
FOR THE FARMER,

"NOthing Made In Vain"
s ~, stood upon g waye-girts rock.
she tide was rising high; 10 s,4-@@. E&&
IN fear she gazed upon the sea "
And OH the frowning sky. 1883 zt..z-. :
One moment gaxed in dire distress, FILA I
- Az one whose spirit grieves, e. T.. :
Ihen seized her bikes pneumatic pump
And blew up both her sleeves. =
%,"Now, howl" said she, Eye angry waves,
And like cork she floated of 3.
And safely gained the shore:
Detroit Free Press.
Tho Cost OF Corn and Oats Crops.
A. Gilmore of Ford county, ILL.,, asks
what it costs to raise Il bushel of corn in
Illinois with land free of rent, and also
the cost of raising oats, and how much
corn and oats one must raise to the acre
on 500 land to make it pay. These
than answered, The writer has never
been able to quite agree with those who
claim that each farmer should know ex
actly what it costs to grow each crop.
There are 80 many contingencies to be
considered that it is often impossible to
give an exactly correct answer. 1t costs
much more in one season than in an
other. There is some work, the cost of
which it is impossible to exactly place.
Thus If one applies manure to land on
which he grows corn crop, it is not fair
to charge the crop with all the cost, for
part of the value Of the manure re-
mains; just how much no one can tell.
The marked differences in the estimates
made Of the cost Of crop growing by diff
ferent farmers i'll part results from their
having different standard of cost. One
farmer will charge for his own labor and
that of his teams what he would have to
pay it he hired the work done; another
will charge for the team work the cost
of maintaining the teams, with an allow
ance Of depreciation. One farmer will
charge at the prices he would have to
monthly rates. 1t is easily possible to
make the cost too low or too high. We
have all seen estimates which show that
crop growing is very profitable business
and others which show that farmers are
losing money every time they grow Il
crop. Average results may be very inap-
plicable to the case of Il given farmer.
He may be much above or below the
average. The United States department
of agriculture, in its report of 1893,
gives an estimate Of the cost of growing
corn and wheat per acre based on state
ments of nearly 10000 farmers. 1t also
gives estimates based OH reports from
1000 experts. Just how many of these
were from Illinois is not stated. The
tOtul dNeIuSc COSt~ VI SIONiuS CUIu vcl
acre for Illinois is given as $11.76 by
the general correspondents, and $11. u
by the experts. The tirst-class put the
average rental Of the land at 1882; the
second at 1888. These estimates are
remarkably close together. The average
corn crop for 1888 for Illinois is estimat-
ed by the department to have been trit,e
under twcnty-six bushels. OF course this
is much below the average for a series
of years in the great corn-growing dis
trict of central Illinois, in which our cor
respondent lives. The answer to the sec
ond question by our correspondent is
equally difficult to have exactly correct.
Not only the rental that can be secured
per acre, or the interest which can GER
tainly be secured for $500 must be con-
sidered, but also the probabilities of a
further advance in tine price of the land.
If one believes his land will not advance
in price he will insist on fair profit
from the crops directly. If he expects
the land to advance considerably he may
feel content to keep Oh growing crops at
a very small direct proht.-The Prairie
Farmer.