The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-11-24
Cost Of Raising Corn.

q statement IN regard 10
the cost of raising corn that challenges
the attention of people who have due
regard for the facts in such matters,
and it can only be useful on account of
the opportunity given to correct it.
This statement was claimed to be made
after an d" exhaustive investigation " of
the subject, covering several corn grow
ing states, and contained the startling
information that the cost of raising a
bushel of corr was six cents. We have
frequently heard equally exaggerated
claims made in regard to this matter,
and ever heard it stated, over and over
again, that the fodder, well cared for,
would pay the entire cost of growing
and harvesting a crop of corn, leaving
the farmer in possession of a good crib
of cor with no expense attending its
production. While we are far from
being pessimistic in u views upon
any subject connected with agriculture,
we are of the opinion that such mis-
leading statements as the above should
be emphatically corrected, and the
sooner it is done the less the injustice
inflicted upon the farmers vocation.
We say this from no disposition to de-
cry agriculture but from a disposition
to state things about as they are, which
will always prove the best policy in the
long run.
In figuring the cost of a bushel of
corr or of any other product of the
farm we must consider average results
under irst-class management, for there
are atmospheric conditions that enter
into these things beyond the control of
hou,ouor ;ntollinanf and oEi1fn1
he may be. Some one has planted a
kernel of wheat and counted the kerr
nels grown from the single seed, and
then, after counting the kernels of
wheat in a bushel, promulgated the
possible yield from a bushel of seed.
This would not be a fair basis upon
which to reckon the probable yield
from a bushel sowing but would be
equally as fair as some of the results
figured out for farmers by those who do
their farming in a dingy Office in some
back street of a great city. When such
calculations are 80 wide of the mark
as to appear ridiculous they do no harm,
for sensible people will not believe
them, and other people seldom take the
trouble to read agricultural papers of
any kind. The kind of statements that
hurt are those so fair as to seem or
rect and yet are as wide of the mark as
this in regard to the cost of growing
corn.
We desire to encourage the growing
of more corr in New England and be-
lieve if the farmers of this section of
the country were required to grow, by
the use of intelligent methods, twice
the corn during the next five years
than they have grown during the past
five, they would profit by it.. If corn
cannot be grown tor six cents a bushel
it can be grown at a profit at present
prices when grown by the right meth
DDS upon the right kinds of soil, and
will always be grown at a loss without
attention to these great essentials. We
cannot state the exact cost of growing
a bushel of corn, for it depends so
much upon conditions. A reliable au-
thority places the cost of blowing,
planting, cultivating and harvesting an
acre of corn at So and the interest on
land at SO, making SO an acre. The
value of the fodder will probably equal
the fertilizer required, or the deterio-
ration of the soil, leaving the cost of
the crop to depend entirely upon the
yield. The yield of thirty bushels per
acre would cost thirty cents a bushel
and a yield of sixty bushels would cost
fifteen cents a bushel, and upon this
basis it would require $50 bushels to
enable it to be grown for six cents a
bushel. Probably the cost to New Eng
land farmers under skilful management
and average seasons would be from
twenty to thirty cents a bushel and
under slipshod and unbusinesslike
methods it is more than twice this.
The present margin between the cost
of raising and market prices is suffi-
cient to warrant us in advocating the
growing of more corn, although not
classed as a corn-growing section when
compared with the prairie states. 1t
requires as much fertilizing material,
either from the soil or applied, to grow
a bushel of corn in one locality as in
another, and the recorded average
yield per acre is as great in New Eng
land as in any section of the country.
Perhaps the cost of cultivation will be
greater here than in the West, but our
market is on our own farms, costing
nothing for transportation. We should
raise more corn, but not expect to
grow it for six cents a bushel or for the
value of the fodder, for it cannot be
done. 1t can be grown, however, at a
cost that will justify its place in the