AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



farmer, in which case the two statements coin- 

 cide, it would reduce his net profit per com- 

 posite unit of the other factors. If the farmer 

 were able to operate a given number of acres of 

 land without regard to the degree of intensity of 

 culture, then it would be desirable to secure the 

 largest net profit per acre; but if he can, to advan- 

 tage, manage only a given number of units of 

 labor and capital-goods regardless of the area on 

 which it is expended, then he should seek the larg- 

 est net profit per unit of these factors. 



It may be well at this point to devote a few 

 lines to the assumption, that, within the limits 

 of the variations in intensity of culture which 

 is likely to exist in the production of a given crop, 

 the same amount of managerial activity is re- 

 quired per composite unit composed of the two 

 factors, laborers and capital-goods, without re- 

 gard to the area of the land on which it is 

 employed. 



In general, we believe this assumption to be 

 very near the truth. In the production of Indian 

 corn, for example, the amount of managerial 

 activity required for each laborer with the team 

 and tools which are used by him would be the 

 same whether thirty acres of the crop were culti- 

 vated three times, or the same laborer and capital- 

 goods were used in cultivating twenty-two and 

 one-half acres of maize four times. Certainly if 

 one must choose between this assumption, and the 



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