MAKING A LIVING WHERE AND HOW 7 



"The average extent of land tilled by one family in Japan 

 does not exceed one hectare" (2.471 acres), less than two and 

 a half acres. ("Japan in the Beginning of the Twentieth 

 Century," page 89. Published by the Department of Agri- 

 culture and Commerce of Japan.) 



"Farm households contain on an average 5.8 persons, of 

 whom two and a half persons per family may be regarded of 

 an age capable of doing effective work." 



"So that here we have more than one person working on 

 each acre and each acre supporting more than two persons, 

 notwithstanding that their 22,000,dtK) tenant farmers pay 

 sometimes four fifths of their product as rent." (Same, 

 page 103.) 



Denmark, one of the best agricultural countries and prob- 

 ably one of the happiest communities on earth, reported 



1900 farms of 250-300 acres, 



74,000 farms averaging 100 acres, 



150,000 farms averaging 7 to 10 acres, 



1050 cooperative dairies, and so on. 



And so impressed has the ruling class there become with 

 the advantage of this that the Government will supply the 

 poor worker nine tenths of the means necessary to buy a 

 small farm. 



Says Kropotkin, "the small island of Jersey, eight miles 

 long and less than six miles wide, still remains a land of 

 open field culture; but, although it comprises only 28,707 

 acres (nearly 45 square miles), rocks included, it nourishes a 



IN 1899 IN 1909 



Minnesota 14 bu. per acre 17.4 



North Dakota 13| bu. per acre 14.3 



South Dakota 10J bu. per acre 14.6 



while New England shows 23.5 bu. per acre. 



By 1917 these largely increased, but the differences remain. 



