FARM AND STATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 18 May 1912, Page 2

FARM AND STATION.

("Weekly Press and Referee. ')

THE COSTS OF FABMIN'G

Whenever a discussion arises as to the cost of grain production or sheep raising kfctl fattening, tliere are generally wide differences of opinion, and seldom is farmer able to give definite ll,torma on either subject. Now that land ha. reached such high figures, it is all thmore necessary that consideration slioulcl l:.~ given to the working out ot costs. A marked feature of the progress in recent vears in the details of management in business and manufacturing coir t-eriis Ts the attention paid tQ the cost <h each operation required, to place an article upon the market. It is thus possib.e tc institute comparisons, and, to check waste, to drop unprofitable lines, and to develop profitable departments. . A be ginning has been. made ;n -th.e United States to ascertain the; cost, of producing grain. jvqpl, etc.and the. enquiries thftt are being -ma:de by the Bureau of Statistics, are not confined to ths.. States, but are being prosecuted in countries. For instance, enquiries were made in. Australia and New Zealan.d as to the cost of wool production, so t7w> .Americah sheep-raisers may see for themselves Whether tliey are producing wool as, cheaply as other countries. An article on the cost of wool production in America appeared in "The Weekly Press on April 17th. The subje.ct of jthe costs of 'fanning js being,, taken up in the United Kingdom. ancl' one of the objects to which the grant for. agricultural research, recently placed at the disposal of the Bsard of Agriculture .and Fisheries, will be . dfevoted is the maintenance of an institute for Ihe study of the economics of-agriculture. ,

ACCURATE INFORMATION REQUIRED. The need for accurate information or the' cost of agricultural operations maj be illustrated from the recent controversy in'the daily Press in England on the cos; of growing sugar beet. 'No general agree ment has' been reached on this vital question—vital because oh the answer to it the useful employment of many tnousarTH pounds of capital' may depend—aiid estimates differing by 100 per cent, froir one another have their advocates, each of whom prpduces an ostensibly convincing arrav of figures. A common feature of all these figures is that they are based on'arbitrary assumptions as "to the. cost of such things as, 'for. exampla. horse labour, a subject which gave rise to an animated ai)d inconclusive . discussion of experts -at a .meeting of the British Association two years ago. Another fruit-i-fyj*: subject .of conflicting views arises from the question : What is the cost of producing b-sef or mutton ? Some expert? say that-th.e profit is nil, other that Corngrowing does not pay, but stock-keeping does. The controversy arises because there is_Ro foundation of hard statistical fact on .which to build. .No one has come forward, for .example .to say that he has collated figures from one hundred typical farms, and that the prevailing cost of keeping a horse is so much, and that on the. average it works so many hours_ per diem, two- figures which, if obtained, would go far to settle the question. Fanning does generally pay, but how milch more ■ profitable it rnight become if details of costs were more carefully gone into few are able to say.