THE SIZE OF FARMS 



that he devotes exactly the same care to each unit, 

 as he continues to increase the number of units, 

 the perpendicular distance between lines A X and 

 B Y will remain constant ; but a larger and larger 

 proportion of the net profits of the succeeding 

 units will be required to counterbalance the pain 

 or dis-utility accompanying the added exertion, 

 required for the management of such units, hence 

 the curve P P f will gradually rise until at some 

 point it will cross the line B Y, at which point 

 the farmer will cease to increase the size of his 

 farm. 



Which is the most desirable from the social 

 point of view, the large, the medium, or the small 

 farm ? Having in mind that farmers vary 

 greatly in their degrees of efficiency, it would 

 seem socially desirable to have the managing done 

 by the most efficient farmers ; for in this way the 

 labor would be under more efficient direction, than 

 where every man directs his own activities. An- 

 other advantage of large farms lies in the fact that 

 they facilitate a more extended division of labor. 

 There can be a shepherd who devotes all of his 

 time to the sheep, and for this reason he can better 

 understand his business. So it is in every line of 

 work on the large farm. Machinery can be used 

 to better advantage on the large farm. The effi- 

 cient manager of the large farm can better deter- 

 mine what will pay and what will not pay, so that 

 he is in a much better position to direct the labor 



123 



