FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 197 



However, overcaution in this direction is as bad as too little 

 caution. While too little caution will bring speedy bankruptcy, 

 too much perpetuates backward or unprogressive methods of 

 agriculture and toilsome and monotonous drudgery in the life 

 of the farmer. Having made a careful calculation and hav- 

 ing satisfied himself that the probable gain will exceed the prob- 

 able loss, the farmer must not hesitate to invest, even if he has 

 to borrow heavily in order to do so. 



Inefficiency of peasant farming. Americans in particular 

 are too much inclined to criticize the primitive and backward 

 methods of the European peasant farmers. Comparing the 

 large teams and powerful machines in use on some of the large 

 farms in the western part of the United States with the simple 

 hand methods of these peasant farmers, we are likely to make 

 the mistake of thinking that the peasant is himself unintelligent 

 and unprogressive. The truth may be that the individual peas- 

 ant is eminently wise and practical in adapting his methods to 

 the conditions under which he is forced to work. It is the 

 system which is to blame, and not the individual farmer. The 

 general discussion of the merits and demerits of peasant farm- 

 ing as a system will be deferred to a future chapter. 1 Here we 

 may point out, however, that on a very small farm there will 

 not ordinarily be work enough for these highly efficient but 

 expensive machines. In many cases there is not work enough 

 to make it profitable to keep two horses or even one horse. A 

 horse would eat up more than he could add to the produce of 

 so small a farm. In such cases it is often more economical to 

 work a cow. The light work of such a farm will not interfere 

 seriously with her function as a giver of milk, nor add very 

 much to the cost of her feed. Accordingly she becomes what is 

 sometimes called an "all-purpose" animal. On these peasant 

 farms one frequently finds that the plowing, the harrowing, and 



1 See Chapter IV. 



