AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



units per acre and confines himself to one hun- 

 dred and sixty-six and two-thirds acres. But 

 will this make the labor and capital-goods most 

 productive? On first thought one might answer 

 yes, because the seventh unit adds less to the 

 product than the sixth; but upon looking more 

 closely into the matter, it is apparent that there 

 is no good reason for ceasing to apply more units 

 simply because the point of diminishing returns 

 per succeeding unit has been reached. The sev- 

 enth unit may add less to the total product than 

 the sixth, and yet add more than any of the first 

 four units, and the average product per unit may 

 be greater when seven units have been applied 

 than when only six have been expended. Hence 

 the total product of the thousand units may be 

 greater when seven units have been applied to 

 each acre and only one hundred and forty-three 

 acres of land employed. But at what point 

 should the farmer cease to increase his applica- 

 tions per acre of land? It is obvious that there 

 is a limit, that, for example, a thousand units ex- 

 pended upon one acre of land in the production 

 of Indian corn would yield a smaller return per 

 unit than when more land is used and the number 

 of units applied to each acre more limited. But 

 what is the limit? It is true that in the case 

 before us the sixth unit increases the total product 

 more than any unit before or after it, but all units 

 cannot be sixth units. The first, the second, and 



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