Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1895-02-21
COST OF WHEAT RAISING.
Data Collected BY the Commissioner
of Agriculture.


of Agriculture.
BY great deal Of correspondence and
an elaborate set of tables made by
Nelson Williams. commissioner of aRri-
culture, he shows the practical cost of
raising wheat for three years in this
state. The years taken are 1891, 1892
and 1893, and include for the latter year
about 6 per cent. of the farmers OF the
state. Correspondence was sent into all
parts of the state for replies; and, coming
as the replies did from all sections, 1t
follows that the state is we'll covered by
this system. The tables given include
all the details, through the study of
which the results are determined.
The average yield of the farms from
which the replies came IN 1891 was 26
bushels per acre; in 1892, 1859 bushels
per acre; in 1893, 1877 bushels per acre.
Among the large number Of replies it Is
found that from the same yield per acre
the cost of production varied consider
ably, due no doubt to the methods
pursued by each. But the average total
cost per acre, including rent on the land
and hauling the grain to the nearest
railroad station, was 1925 in 1891. $3.50
in 1892, 1862 IN 1893. This difference in
cost was, much OF it, due to the differ
ence in the expense per acre OF harvest
lug and threshing in the different years,
as it is to be observed in the years of
largest yield the cost wac greatest per
acre, and the year OF smallest yield the
cost was least per acre.
1t is probable also that the price OF
labor through harvesting and threshing
Yves lees in the years OF smallest pro-
duction; for it is With labor az with
everything else, the more of it that is
available for the performance of the same
work the lower the prices will necessarily
be. The cost per bushel averaged 365
cents a bushel in 1891, AL in 1892 and
58.l IN 1893. 1t is noted that the cost
per bushel was least in the years of
largest yield and largest in the years of
smallest yield per acre. In 1891 when
the crop was excessively large the cost
per bushel was 36.5; the average price
obtained per bushel at the railroad
station was 744 cents. In 1892 the aver
age price received was 566 cents per
bushel. In 1898 the average price 500
cents per bushel, giving net gain
IN 1891 of 37.9 cents per bnshel, in
1892 of 9.5 cents. while in 1893 there was
loss of 79 cents per bushel.
The profit per acre he figures at slO.9815
in 1891, $2.1315 in 1892. with loss Of
4315 cents per acre in 1898. According
to this calculation there is a profit IN
raising wheat in North Dakota at the
average price obtained in the three years
mentioned, allowing the production aver
ages equal to the production OF these
years. Although 1898 shows loss Of
1870 per acre, that includestne farmers
labor at the average price Of computing
labor i2 that year. BY figuring in the
large gain IN 1891, the average profit per
acre for the three years was $4.23. Now
it is questionable whether there will ever
be another crop averaging so large as
that Of 1891, ss it is the greatest yield
ever obtained for the whole OF the state.
Even il we throw off that year and take
the years OF 1892 and 1893, Of moderate
crops and lower prices, We have an aver
age profit Of $40 an acre for these two
years of small prices and moderate pro-
ductlon. In 1894. with prices still lower,
there was probable loss exceeding that
of 1893.