The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-04-30
PRODUCTION OF WHEAT.
Comparative Cost of It's Cultivation
in Different Countries.

Comparative Cost OF Its cultivation
in Different Countries.
Our Consul General at Paris has late
3 transmitted to the State Department
some French agricultural statistics,
which include a statement Of the cost
of producing wheat. 1t ought to have
occurred to a gentleman from Indiana,
who has resided in Missouri and ILL.,
nois, that if wheat raising in France
cost nearly 500 an acre the American
farmer ought to be able to pay tho
French duty on wheat and then recoup
himself at a price that would simply
drive the French peasants out Of the
business. The fact is, says the New
York Journal Of Commerce, that the
Consul General multiplied the cost per
hectare instead Of dividing it by the
number Of acres in one hectare. There
are 2,471 acres in a hectare, so that the
cost per acre is nearly 40 per cent Of
the cost per hectare. The cost Of wheat
raising is given as from "a to 40 francs
Der hectare, including provisional stack
ing. This makes the costper acre from
s2.62 to S3.OS. 1t is unnecessary to say
that this is very low, but that obvious
fact is emphasized by the statistics
that show an average yield Of over
eighteen bushels per acre.
AS this statement Of cost Is not item,
zed, it Is impossible to analyze 1t or to
use it for purposes Of comparison. 1t
Is probably worth not much more than
the estimates of cost made here,
though, to do justice to the French,
they are much more painstaking in
their computations than Americans are.
The trouble with estimates Of cost OF
agricultural productions here and
abroad Is that most Of the expenditures
are not expenditures Of money, and can
be expressed in money only by guess
Ing the value Of the material and exer-
ton used. The man who really pays
good money for every bit Of material
and every stroke Of work done on his
farm is the gentleman farmer" who
has always carried on farming at loss.
By his side a working farmer cultivates
q piece Of land, buying the balance
sheet Of the gentleman farmer" he
does, in fact, support himself and his
considerable family, and perhaps save
up money enough to buy lan adjoining
Norty acres.
Last year the Department Of Agrt
culture published tabular statements
Of cost Of producing wheat and corn
compiled from the estimates Of 10000
farmers. Thirty thousand observations
would certainly justify any deduction
drawn from them; but these are not
really observations; they are estimates,
all subject to an identical cause OF
variation. When the statistician found
that his tables indicated cost per acre
Of S11.69 and Sill, respectively, for
wheat and corn, while the Valne Of the
crops was only S616 and Ss.21, respec-
lively, he found that the farm
er was losing money at an ap-
palling rate, and he suggested
that the straw and stalks, worth in
some parts Of the country SIS an acre
for fodder, should be taken into ac-
count, and that in addition to this the
above crop values were based OF un'
precedentedly low prices.
The first item in the case Of wheat is
s2.S1 for rent. This is 6 per cent on
s37, very high valuation for the wheat
land Of the country east and west. If
it be fact that in Connecticut wheat
land rent may be fairly estimated at
1851 an acre, then it is very certain
that wheat raising cannot pay nearly
so we'll as the making Of wood nutmegs.
Six per cent, too, is high rate of inter-
est to charge on the value Of land cuiti-
waited by the owner. But in the last
analysis rent is not an element in the
cost Of production. The rental value Of
land is based upon the profits that cur
be made from it; the more valuable the
land, therefore, the less reason is there
for the farmer to complain Of his small
profits; it is his profit that makes the
rental value Manure is set down at
S2.16, although most of the fer sili2ing
material is barn-yard waste, which
could not be sold If it were scattered
over the soil. The cost Of cultivating
and harvesting is S606, and most Of his
labor is performed by the farmer and
his boy, and the pecuniary value of
their labor is estimated. Seventy-siy
cents is charged to marketing; this is
not explained; it may mean hauling 10
market; it does not appear In most Of
be estimates.
Senator Peffer, who should know a
good deal about the cost of agriculture,
has given 35 cents bushel in the
Northwest and % cents bushel On .he
Pacific coast as the cost Of raising
wheat. This cannot include fertilizins
or marketing. Beerbohm's list pub
Iished last year letter from a land
owner in South Dakota, saying that
wheat could be raised at profit for 81
cents bushel at sixteen bushels to the
acre. and for 40 cents for twelve tc
fourteen bushels to the acre.
Prof. Ingersoll, Of the Nebraska ex.
pertinent station, has investigated the
cost of wheat raising In his State and
reported it to be S3.55 for planting and
$3.50 for harvesting, or S6.45 for, say,
sixteen bushels. For corresponding
items this is in pretty close accord with
the figures of the National Department
Of Agriculture, which are S5.42 per acre,
including marketing but not including
rent or manure. OF course 1t is essen
tial, if comparisons are to be made, 10
know precisely what items are included
IN the statements compared.
Our Minister in that country reports
that the Argentine wheat producers
have been getting about 81 cents gold