BUSINESS ASPECTS OF FARMING 439 



forge farm' it will do the work for more than 3 times as many 

 acres. The last table shows that $100 worth of machinery 

 served only 17 acres of land on the smallest farm, while on 

 the largest farms it served nearly double this area. The farm 

 business must be of such a size as to utilize man and horse labor 

 and machinery to the best advantage. On the small farm dead 

 investment in the case of machinery and the nonemployment or, 

 at least, lack of profitable employment of labor is clearly revealed 

 by the results of this survey. 



It should not be inferred that only the large farm will pay. 

 The man with small capital may own a small farm and rent 

 additional land to good advantage. Where rentals are not 

 excessive, it is good business to rent land. 



578. Farm operations should be diversified. If as much as 

 60 per cent of the income of a farm is derived from the sale 

 of hay and grain, it should be classed as a hay and grain farm ; 

 if from cotton, it should be classed as a cotton farm. The type 

 of farming is also classified in other ways, such as extensive and 

 intensive according to whether farm operations are specialized 

 or diversified. 



Specialized farming is particularly adapted to large areas of 

 cheap land or to small areas of high-priced land near a city. It 

 is not well adapted to the average farm, more or less remote 

 from market. Specialized farming, while often highly profitable, 

 always carries the maximum risk as regards weather conditions 

 and dangers from insect pests and plant diseases. 



Diversified farming is better adapted to general conditions. 

 It is important, however, to avoid too great a diversity. Thus, 

 it would be unwise to grow on a i6o-acre farm 40 acres of 

 tobacco, 40 acres of corn, and 40 acres of cotton, because these 

 crops leave the ground unprotected during the winter ; they com- 

 pete for labor by requiring cultivation at the same time, and 

 they do not distribute the labor throughout the year. The labor 

 requirement for such a series of crops would be very high from 

 March until late fail, and little or nothing for the rest of the 

 year. Such competing crops would not help solve the labor 



