AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



be so directed as to yield the largest possible re- 

 turns in human satisfaction. Viewed from this 

 standpoint it may be said that economics includes 

 a treatment of "the economy of energy required 

 for the satisfaction of human needs." 1 It is de- 

 sirable that the energy required for the satisfac- 

 tion of human wants be used most economically, 

 not that men may work less strenuously, but that 

 they may live more abundantly. 



The economics of any particular industry, as 

 agriculture, treats of the principles which should 

 guide those engaged in that industry in the expend- 

 iture of energy in the production of economic 

 goods, and also of those institutions which are 

 necessary to impel the promoters of that industry 

 to do that which best conserves the interests of so- 

 ciety as a whole. 



Agriculture is often spoken of as the most inde- 

 pendent of all occupations, and it is true that the 

 farmer is less dependent upon his fellow men than 

 is his city brother. But while it is true that the 

 farmer is brought into contact with other men less 

 frequently than is the merchant or the manufac- 

 turer, yet, on the other hand, he is brought into 

 closer contact with Nature. The manufacturer, 

 for example, may know each evening what tasks 

 are to engage his attention the next day, but the 

 farmer simply knows what he would like to do, 

 and awaits the dictations of the weather. So- 



1 P. Kropotkin, Fields, Factories and Workshops, p. iv. 

 4 



