CHAPTER III 



THE FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 

 I. LAND AS A FACTOR OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



Dependence of agriculture upon area. One of the most im- 

 portant facts regarding agriculture, a fact which distinguishes 

 it from all other industries, is its dependence upon land. This 

 does not mean soil and chemical fertility alone ; it means also 

 land surface, space, room for plants to grow and spread 

 their roots to the soil and moisture and their leaves to the sun 

 and air. In its demands upon land surface agriculture exceeds 

 every other industry, that is, it requires more surface in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of its product than any other industry. In 

 fact it is the only industry in which mere surface is ever a scarce 

 factor of production, or in which any nation ever feels that it 

 has not area enough within its boundaries. 



Soil may be made, or infertile soil may be made fertile, but 

 land surface cannot be materially increased except in small 

 fringes along the shores of bodies of water. A manufacturing 

 or mercantile establishment needs space only for standing room 

 for men and machines, and storage room for materials. Besides, 

 it can economize land surface by building up into the air, thus 

 multiplying the floor space by the number of stories. A farm 

 needs space for these purposes also ; but its chief need is for 

 room for crops to grow, and for this purpose land surface can- 

 not be economized by erecting tall buildings. Even a mine 

 needs land surface only as a means of getting access to the 

 mineral deposit beneath, and the value of the product of 



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