AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



It often happens that a fixed number of laborers 

 must be combined with certain capital-goods ; for 

 example, one man is required for each harvesting 

 machine; but in many cases it may be a matter 

 of indifference, aside from the element of profit, 

 whether the work be done by hand or by horse 

 power and machinery. In the production of 

 wheat, for example, the proportion of capital- 

 goods might be reduced and the same produce 

 obtained by increasing the number of laborers. 

 The reverse of this proposition is also true. But 

 while these variations may be made arbitrarily 

 they have an influence upon the amount of the 

 farmer's share of the product. Of all the vari- 

 ous operations necessary to produce and market 

 a bushel of wheat, some can be performed more 

 cheaply by the use of horses and machines, others 

 by means of laborers. 



Where the farmer's aim is to have the net 

 profit which is left after paying the hired laborers 

 and paying for the use of the capital-goods, as 

 large as possible, every operation should be per- 

 formed by laborers, if this method will lower the 

 costs of production, increase the product, or in 

 any other way increase the net profits ; and every- 

 thing should be done by means of horses and ma- 

 chines or other forms of capital-goods, which can 

 be done to better advantage in that way. It 

 may often happen that the cost of performing cer- 

 tain farm operations can be reduced by the use 



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