VOL. XXVI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.. DEO. 19,1891.
NO. 51
C03T OF GROWING WHEAT.
Interesting Figures From Prof. Wiley's
Account Book—High Compliment to
Indiana.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
In your issue of Dec. 5th, you have an
article on the price of growing wheat, in
which you quote from the "South Bend
Tribune" astatementto the effect that acer-
tain gentleman grew a field of wheat which
cost him 33.5 cents per bushel. You ask:
"Is there not some mistake in figurea?"
and add "Let us hear from our readers on
the subject."        " "*
, I happen to have a little information on
this subject, which I think will be of interest, showing what is possible to do at
long range farming.
I often regret that I am not permitted
to have personal charge of an Indiana
farm, because the Indiana farms are certainly, in my opinion, the bfst in the
world. Other duties, however, which perhaps are less onerous and more remuner*
ative, have kept me from this personal supervision. I have, however, farmed at
long range for several years in Ban ton
county, Indiana, and have no reason to
complian of the results, as I have secured
a fair return for the money invested.
Your readers may not be aware that very
little wheat is Jgrown in Benton county.
La=it year, therefore, I resolved to make an
experiment and planted a field, which
measured a trifl9 over 19 acres. The labor
was all hired, my tenant being unwilling
to take the responsibility of growing
wheat, sharing the general belief of the
farmers in that community that it would
"winter kill" and be a dead loss to
those trying to grow it. I, therefore,
arranged "With him to grow the wheat for
me. The expense of growing, which-I
give below is no fictitious matter, but is
one of dollars and cents, as I have receipts
for every item charged, with the exception
of the thrashing of the wheat, for which I
neglected to take a receipt, inasmuch as
the number of bushels and the rate
charged indicate exactly the expense. The
only item estimated is the rent of the
land, and this I have placed at a reasonable figure.
COST OF   BAISINO   19 ACBES   OP   WHEAT IN
BENTON CO., INDj
Land, ?50 per acre, rent at 6 per cent, |3
per acre, ¥57; fertilizers, 198 50; freight
on ?8; hauling to farm $5; spreading, f 11;
total cost of fertilizers, ¥12. 50; plowing,
?20; harrowing (twice) fl5; total cost of
preparing seed bed, $55 50; seeding ¥9: hire
of seeder, and cost of returning, f5 25; total cost of seeding, ¥14 25; 23 bushels seed
wheat, at $150, ¥34 50; freight on wheai,
f 110; total cost seed, ¥35 60: cutting, binding and shocking, ?24; labor of teams for
threshing, ¥24 75; threshing 475 bushels at
five cents, $23 75; coal for threshing, ?4 05;
total cost of threshing, ¥52 55; total {cost of
wheat, rent ¥57; fertilizers, ¥122 50; plowing and harrowing, ¥•« 50; seeding, $14 25;
seed, ?35 60; harvesting, f24; threshing,
¥52 55; sum, ¥341 40.
Receipts:—Sold 40 bu. for seed at fl,
f40; kept 20 bu. for seed at ?1,?20; soldt
415 bu. at 83 cts, 5344 45; commission, f4 15;
shortage, fl 52; net, f338 78; total receipts,
f39S 78; total expenses, f341 40; net profit,
$57 38; net profit per acre, *3 02.
I cannot say that the investment in
fertilizers was a beneficial one, inasmuch
as I am unable to tell what the yield
would have been without them. A narrow strip, however, across one side of the
field did not receive any fertilizer, and
from appearances, I could not see but hat
it was just as good wheat as that which
had been fertilized; but appearances are
deceitful. If I had used no fertilizer, and
the wheat had yielded as It did, I would
have had f 122 50 more to charge to profit
which would have increased the profits
from f57 38 to f 179 88, which wo old have
made the net profit f9 47 per acre, Instead
of f3 02. As will be seen the total cost of
producing my wheat was 72 cents per
bushel. Had I used no fertilizer and obtained the yield I did, the cost of producing tUe wheat would have been 40 cents
a bushel.
It is not fair, however, to charge the
whole of the expense of the fertilizer to
the crop of wheat, as a permanent benefit
to the land must be experienced in introducing, as I did, so large a quantity of
phosphoric acid, only a small part of which
was removed in the wheat ctop. Nevertheless, I give the figures as they Btand,
which show that even with long range
farming, which is necessarily more expensive than any other kind, a profit can
be made In growing wheat at 83 cents a
bushel. There are many items of expense
charged which would not be, If one had
the apparatus on hand. In my region
there are no wheat drills and I had to hire
one at quite a distance away and this did
not have any fertilizer attachment, so
that the fertilizer had to be spread separately; nevertheless, all these items are
charged in the bill and the actual expense
of the crop is given. The yield of 25 bu.
per acre is a fair one, although not- a
phenomenal one. Permit me to say, however, that the gentleman to whom I s*_d
the 40 bushels of seed wheat has not yet
paid me for it, and the 20 bushels which I
kept for myself I have no further use for
as I have sold my farm and will devote
myself to a little farming nearer at hand.
The variety planted was ''Velvet Chaff,"
and the seed was obtained from the Experiment Station of Purdue University.
Respectfully,
H. W. Wiley.
rent of the ground at five dollars an acre, at the above yield, we can
raise wheat at a cost of a little less than 40
cents per bushel. J. K. Knotts.
Jolletvllle.
Eelttors Indiana Farmer:
I cannot figure out the cost of raising
wheat, at the usual average, at less than
twice the sum of your Steuben county
farmer. The usual average is hardly 12
bushel; 12 bushelss per acre will cost 83Y_
cts per bu.; 15 bushels 66% cts; 20 bushels
50cts; 25bushels40cts; 30  bushels  33>_
(This must have been Mr. M. Cool's
average.) It costs very little more per acre
tohandle30bushelsthanha.f as much. We
will make our detailed estimate on 15 bu.
per acre, which Is three or four Dushels
more than the average, one year with another, in this State, and in the United
States.
We will take 10 acres of good land, for
wheat growing purposes ls worth not less
than ¥50 per acre. 10 acres at f50 is ¥500;
interest on ¥500 at 6 per cent, f30; tax on
two-tnirds value fl 33.. perhundred, ¥440;
breaking 10 acres ¥150 per acre, ¥15; rolling, harrowing, dragging, etc, three days,
¥7 50; d_illing,¥3; 15 bu. seed wheat, ¥22 50;
cutting, ¥8, shocking, ¥3,fll; threshing 150
bu. 15 bu. per acre, ¥7 50; teams, hands,
feed and board, ¥17 60; hauling 150 bu.
to market, 3 cts. bu. ¥1 50; total cost of
150 bu. ¥100. Which is precisely 66K per
bu. The above estimates are all lower
possibly than the actual cost.
RespectfuUy submitted,
Greensburg. c*K*
—C. K's figures are Interesting, but are
they correct? Let's hear from others on
the cost of a bushel of wheat. And when
we have settled on that let us find what
a bushel of corn costs.—Eds.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I see an article In the last issue of your
paper in  regard  to  the cost  of  raising
■wheat. ,
I will give a few figures to show the
profit I derived from 24 acres this year.
The total cost of sowing, cutting, threshing and boarding of hands was ¥135. The
rent of ground at five doUars  an  acre is
fl20, making a total of ¥355-
I deceived 640 bushels of wheat, which
I sold for a dollar a bushel In August
This leaves a profit of ¥385.  Counting the
Editors Inellana Farmer:
In your Issue of December 5, ls an item
in the cost of raising wheat, the price
given at 33K cents per bushel, and you
ask, is there not some mistake ln tlguresT
Let us itemize and we will rapidly see
there is a mistake somewhere that Is dangerously misleading.
In tbe cost of raising one acre of wheat
are the following Items:
One day, team and hand plowing and
preparing ground, ¥2 50; one and one-half
bushels of seed, one dollar a bushel, f 1.50;
drilling seed, ¥ 30; use of ground, ¥4.00;
cutting and shocking, fl.25; hauling and
threshing (15 bushels) ¥150; marketing,
.45; interest and investment, soed, work,
etc., .50; keeping up fertility, .75. Total(
¥12.75.
It will be seen that I have put a low estimate on everything, and the cost of producing an acre of wheat Is ¥12 75, and I assert that on an average, where work ls all
hired, It cannot be produced for any less
In Indiana.
Now for the other side of the account.
Say we raise 15 bushels per acre and receive 75 cents per bushel, that is ¥11*25 and
we lose fl.50. At 80 cents pe. bushel we
lose 75 cents at 85 cents we are
even, but have no profit, but all over 85
cents we receive would be profit.
Mr. McCool would have to raise at least
40 bushels per acre to bring the cost of
production down to 33M cents per bushel.
Forty bushels to the acre have been raised
in Indiana, but not often, 15 is about the
average taking years together.
I have been a long time buying and raising wheat in Indiana, and this year is the
best crop I have ever seen In this State,
and my estimate is 20 bushels per acre,
and is now worth 9D cents per bu.hel
averaging ¥1S per acre, a profit of ¥5 25 per
acre. Now If you know the number of
acres you can tell the total profit of the
Indiana wheat crop to farmers. There
may be starvation in Russia, but not here
while we have such crop*! as this year.
J. H. Koontz. Delaware county.
Plowing 10 days, ¥15; harrowing three
times four days, _d; drilled 1 _i days, fl;
sowed one ton of fertilizer, _'_6 50; sowed
15,'_ bushels wheat, ¥14; cutting and
shocking, ¥12; hauling to barn ¥5; threshing 16S bushels at 5). (*. ¥*■ 25; total cost,
¥00 75; cost per bushel for raising, Slcts;
for rent of field 42 bushels, ¥35 70; sold my
share 126 bushels, for S_ cts., ¥107 10; net
profit, f 10 35.
You can see at once there is quite a difference in the cost per acre, and ln the net
profit per acre. The first fiold Is but very
little, if any richer than the third field, the
dlflerence being in early plowing clover
sod, and well compacting the seed bed. I
worked the first field six times, while the
second and third received only three har-
rowlngs. The seed had a great deal to do
with it also. If we get seed from the
north it ls always sure to yield better than
our own seed.
Those experiments have taught me a
good lesson, to put out fewer acres and
plow early and com peat the seed bed well.
I never used scarcely any barn yard
manure, If I had I am sure my wheat
would have cost me much less per bushel.
I sowed five difierent kinds of wheat this
season, the American Bronz., Golden
Cross, Eirly Red Clawson, Early Red
Russian and J one's Winter Fife. The season was so dry that none of the wheat
came up for several weeks. It doesn't
look very promising now, but may come
out all right in the spring. I shall give
report of each kind after the season.
Harrison Co. W. B. Stevens.
Editor- Indiana Farmer:
I seo you ask for reports on the cost of
raising wheat. I always keep a book account of everything on my farm and I
shall give you the result of my wheat
crop for this season. I had three different
fields, two of my own and one rented.
The first field of five acres was clover
ground and was plowed just before harvest. I always count the wear and tear of
my tools and teams the same as if I had
to hire them.
Plowed three days, f4 50; harrowed six
times three days, ¥4 50; drilled three- quarters of a day, ¥1; sowed 1000 lbs. of bone
meal, ¥13.25; sowed 4 bnshels Golden
Cross wheat ¥7 60; cutting with blnder,¥5;
hauling to barn one day, ¥2; threshed 140
bu. at5J_cts. per bu. ¥7-00; total cost
¥45 40; .old wheat at home for 90 cts.
¥126; net profit, ¥S0 60; cost per bu.
for raising, 28c.
My seed, by the time I got it home, cost
f 1 90 per bu. I did most of the work and
used my own teams and tools, and If that
was counted, but it would make quite a
difference.
The second field of 20 acres was as follows: Plowing 16 days, f24; Harrowed
three times, five days, f7 50; drilled two
days, ¥3; sowed, 2,800 pornds of fertilizer,
¥36 95; sowed 16 bn. of wheat, ¥14 40; catting and shocking, .¥15; hauling to barn,
f5; threshing241 bu. at 5%, ¥13 25; total
cost, ¥H910i soldwheatat home for 85c.,
¥20185; cost per bushel for raising, 49 eta.;
net profit, ¥85 75.
The third field of 14 acres was as follows;
Editors Indiana Farmer:
I notice in last week's Farm., the state-
meat of a Mr. McCool who raised wheat
last year at a cost of 33M cts. per busbel.
You ask is; there not some mistake in
his figures. Will say where everything
waa favorable, and the crop was 20
bushels or more per acre, lt can be raised
for that sum, or less, for example: Plowing, one acre, ¥1; harrowing, rolling and
drilling, fl; seed, VA bushels at 75 cts. per
bu., one acre f 1; cutting with self-binder, one acre, fl; shocking, one acre, 25c.
Now we have one acre of wheat ln shock
at a total cost of ¥4 25. Now, if the one
acre yields 20bu. so far, ls 21 y, ct. Now,
for the thrashing of such a crop. Our
thrashers here, would have
ocntracted to thrash, stack the
straw, and put the grain in convenient
granaries at 10 cts. per bu., making the total cost ..IK cts. per bushel. The basis of
my figuring ls teams .2 50 per day, including driver; hands, ¥1 25 per day.
The above prices include board. So, I
conclude it possible to raise wheat at the
price per bu. that Mr. McCool mentions.
The prices per day I give, appear low, but
I think they could have been hired for
raising the last year's crop, at the price,
mentioned. Will add, I am not young
and have farmed from the time I was old
enough, and have not seen over four years
when it was possible to raise wheat so
cheap, bnt have seen three or four times
that many years when it was almost or
quite, an entire failure, but remember
that 10 bu. per acre crr*p;would cost you
per bu. almost twice the above amount.
Amos Hbavilon.
Keeping* Cider "just bo."
Editor. Indiana Farmer:
When elder is in a desired stage, or has
a desirable taste, put atxfat a pound of raw
lean beef in the barrel. Fasten the strip
of beef to a small wire and pass it through
the bung to about the middle of the barrel, and fasten'the wire outside of barrel,
and put the bung in. There will be no
disagreeable taste, and the elder will "stay
so."   Try lt. John Bennett.
- *» •
Mrs. Grover Cleveland ls reported to be
quite seriously IU, her condition causing
alarm among her friends.