FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 177 



and assuming that the farmer has not learned new and better 

 methods of applying his labor, or acquired superior seed or tools 

 or other accessories, if he doubles the amount of labor applied to 

 the cultivation of the same land he will not double the crop, though 

 he will probably increase it somewhat. Another way of stating 

 the same thing would be to say, under the same assumptions as 

 before, that if he abandons half his land and puts upon the remain- 

 ing half all the labor which he has formerly put upon the whole, 

 he will not get so large a crop, though he may get more than half 

 as large a crop ; that is, he will get a larger crop per acre though 

 not twice as large a crop per acre. That such a law is universally 

 recognized may be shown by the following considerations. 



Why the farmer cultivates his second-best land. 1 Ask any 

 farmer you may happen to meet about the quality of his land, 

 and unless his is an exceptional farm, he will tell you that it is 

 not all alike, that one field is more productive than the rest 

 and will yield a larger and more valuable crop in proportion to 

 the labor and capital expended in its cultivation. But if you 

 were to advise him for that reason to put all his labor and capital 

 on the superior field, letting the rest of his farm go to waste, he 

 would certainly not take your advice and he would think very 

 poorly of your intelligence besides. Yet if one knew absolutely 

 nothing about farming, and were possessed of the temerity which 

 sometimes accompanies such ignorance, one might argue the 

 matter with the farmer, reasoning somewhat as follows : If a 

 certain amount of labor and capital on the more productive field 

 will produce a more valuable crop than the same amount will 

 pr< >duce if expended on a less productive field, it is a mistake to 

 waste any labor and capital on the poorer land. If, for example, 

 one hundred days' labor (with the appropriate tools) on the best 

 field will produce a crop worth $500, while the same amount of 

 labor on any other ^>art of the farm will produce a crop worth 



1 Cf. the author's Distribution of Wealth (New York, 1905), chap. ii. 



