Averages are very misleading and it would be better to pay little attention to them.  They are like the average wealth possessed by a class of twenty schoolchildren.  The schoolmaster who had $20 asked what was the average wealth of each, if the total wealth of the class was $20.  The brightest boy answered, “One dollar.”  The schoolmaster asked Tommy at the foot of the class if he did not think they would be a prosperous class.  He answered, “It depends on who has the ‘twenty.’”

But, all the more, good averages imply some wonderful yields.  The following are actual averages in the United States Twelfth and Thirteenth Census Report, respectively.

Flowers and plants, $2014 and $1911; nursery products, $170 and $261; sugar cane, $87 (4 tons per acre) and $5540; small fruits, $81 and $110; hops, $72 (885 lb. per acre) and $175; sweet potatoes, $37 (79 but per acre) and $55; hemp, $34 (794 lb. per acre) and $54; potatoes, $33 (96 bu. per acre) and $45; sugar beets, $30 (7 tons per acre) and $54; sorghum cane, $21 (1 ton per acre) and $23; cotton, $15 (4-10 bale per acre) and $25.70 flaxseed, $9 (9 bu. per acre) and $14; cereals, $8 and $11.40.

Specialties, however, often do much better.  For example, R. B. Handy, in Farmers’ Bulletin No. 60, United States Department of Agriculture, tells us that a prominent and successful New Jersey grower says: 

“I cannot give the cost in detail of establishing asparagus beds, as so much would depend upon whether one had to buy the roots, and upon other matters.  Where growers usually grow roots for their own planting the cost is principally the labor, manure, and the use of land for two years upon which, however, a half crop can be had.

“The cost of maintaining a bed can only be estimated per acre as follows: 

Manure (applied in the spring) $25.00
Labor, plowing, cultivating, hoeing, etc 20.00
Cutting and bunching 40.00
Fertilizer (applied after cutting) 15.00

Total $100.00

“An asparagus bed well established, say five years after planting, when well cared for should, for the next ten or fifteen years, yield from 1800 to 2000 bunches per annum, or at 10 cents per bunch (factory price) $180 to $200.”

“If the rent, labor, etc., for a crop of asparagus is $200 per acre, and the crop is three tons of green shoots at $100 per ton, on the farm, the profit is $100 per acre.  If we get six tons at $100 per ton, the profit, less the extra cost of labor and manure, is $400 per acre.” ("Food for Plants,” by Harris and Myers, page 19.)

Around Bethlehem, Indiana, the farmers raise hundreds of tons of sunflower seed every year, and the industry pays better than anything else in the farming line.  A good deal of the seed is made into condition powder for stock, occasionally some is made into so-called “olive oil” which is said to surpass cotton-seed oil.  Large quantities are used for feeding parrots and poultry, or consumed by the Russian Hebrews who eat them as we would eat peanuts.