140 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



such examples in this state. Nearly all the so-called model barns 

 are so expensive as to be impossible on a business farm. Hen 

 houses ought not to cost much over $i per hen. At this cost, the 

 hen must lay a half dozen eggs to pay her house rent. Many of 

 the big poultry farms have such expensive buildings that the plant 

 cannot possibly pay. 



The danger of overinvestment in machinery is even greater, 

 for there are skilled agents whose business it is to make sales. 

 The average farm in Livingston County has an investment in 

 machinery of $6 per acre of crops. Many a farm of an amateur 

 has ten times this amount. The machinery on a general farm 

 ought not to cost over $10 per acre of crops. The complete cost 

 of maintenance, housing, interest, repairs, and depreciation on 

 farm machinery amounts to about 25 per cent of the inventory 

 value. A $10 investment per acre of crops represents a cost of 

 about $2.50 per acre per year. 



Raise crops first. The temptation of the beginner is to spend 

 his first year or two in a complete revision of all buildings on 

 the farm. Such changes nearly always cost twice the estimated 

 amount. Unless one has a large amount of money, he is likely to 

 find that when he gets his buildings ready he has no money left 

 for farming. This mistake is a very natural one to make, because 

 in cities, buildings in themselves are often a business. But on a 

 farm the foundation of the business is the crops grown. The way 

 to begin farming is to raise crops. If one cannot make a profit at 

 this, he has no need for buildings. It is better to put off the 

 desire for changes for a few years. One will then know better 

 what he wants. He will also know whether he desires to remain 

 on the farm. Money invested in buildings is rarely returned 

 when one sells. 



Learn from the neighbors. The beginner should follow the 

 practice of the best farmers of the region, for the first few 

 years at least. In every community there are farmers who under- 

 stand farming as well as the most successful railroad president 

 understands railroads. The newcomer with his theories nearly 

 always scorns the experience of the generations of farmers. He 

 fails to realize how old a science agriculture is. The words of 



