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Missouri Agricultural Report. 



SIZE OF FARMS FOR GENERAL FARMING. 



(G. F. Warren, Professor of Farm Management and Farm Crops, Cornell University. 

 Address Delivered at Columbia During Missouri Farmers' Week.) 



One of the most striking results of the agricul- 

 tural survey work which we have been doing in New 

 York is the positive way in which the size of busi- 

 ness has affected profits. In this work we have 

 found the year's profits *on about 1,500 farms in two 

 counties that are quite different in type, yet the con- 

 elusions on nearly all points agree. 



The size of business is one of the most important 

 factors for success in agriculture. This size is ap- 

 proximately measured by the number of acres, when 

 dealing with any given type of farming. There 

 were some celery, lettuce and onion farms on muck land. Ten acres of 

 such land represents as large a business as 100 acres of land devoted to 

 general farming. The following results are for hay, grain, potato, stock 

 and dairy farms : 



. Size of farm related to profits. — In Tompkins county the average 

 owner, with less than 61 acres, made considerably less than hired men 

 received. The average farmer with 61 to 100 acres made about the same 

 as hired men. Those with over 100 acres averaged much better than 

 farm wages. (Table 1.) 



G. F. Warren. 



TABLE 1. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO PROFITS. 586 FARMS IN TOMPKINS 



COUNTY OPERATED BY OWNERS. 



*If a farmer's labor income is $500, it means that as a result of his year's work he has 

 made 5 per cent interest on his capital and has cleared $500 above all farm expenses, besides 

 having the use of a house and such farm produce as the farm furnished for consumption in 

 the house. This figure can, therefore, be compared with wages paid to a hired man who is 

 given a house, garden, etc. 



