29-i liEPOET OF FaBMEES' INSTITUTES 



bad social conditions, but any sucli general system is very far off 

 in America. Farms that ran into thousands of acres outgrow the 

 abilit}^ of any one man to keep in touch with all the operations, 

 and I believe that, owing to uncertainties of weather and many 

 other things, they cannot be administered by captains of industry 

 as can our great corporations — for which I am very thankful. 



To state the proper size for a l^ew York State farm is entirely 

 impossible. It will vary with the size of the man. It will be big- 

 ger in the general farming regions of the state than on the in- 

 tensively farmed areas of Long Island. If the farm is too large 

 and there is onlv one set of buildings, the distance for hauling 

 crops and manure becomes too great for high efficiency. Perhaps 

 because I happen to be accustomed to that size I think of 200 

 acres as a very desirable unit. 



Another factor in good farm management is the diversification 

 of crops. It is the fashion to extol the virtues of specialization, 

 and it is possible to point out specialists — onion growers, hop 

 growers, truckers and others — who have given most of their at- 

 tention to only one or two crops and have been wonderfully suc- 

 cessful. jSTevertheless, in the long run it is the man with several 

 irons in the fire who stands the best chance of w-inning. New York 

 State farms are generally pretty well diversified. It is true there 

 are very many farmers who sell milk and a little stock and prac- 

 tically nothing else ; but dairying makes use of so many crops, and 

 its operations are so continuous throughout the year, that it can 

 hardly be put in the same category as some other one-crop fanning. 

 Even so, the dairyman might be better off if he would add some 

 other crop to be grown on the side — say potatoes if he happens 

 to be on the proper soil, or perhaps fruit. Almost always he ought 

 to expect to sell ]S[o. 1 timothy hay. 



Diversification of products is an insurance against the lean 

 years that come to every crop and farm. In addition, it permits 

 a more uniform labor schedule throughout the year, and hence 

 more satisfactory conditions for the hiring of men. It has also 

 an important bearing upon the question of horse labor. The man 

 who sows only spring crops uses his teams in April and May, again 

 in July and August, and then for fall plowing in October and 

 November. If he grows a crop of buckwheat he can use them in 



