ORGANIZATION OF THE FARM 



and this smaller composite unit made up of 

 laborers and capital-goods. 



In the case of a farmer who hires no laborers, 

 but performs all the labor himself, the first of 

 these problems merges itself into the one we have 

 just discussed, and the simple statement will suf- 

 fice that : additions to the supply of capital-goods 

 are justifiable so long as such increments result 

 in a net addition to the total product, greater than 

 the cost of securing their cooperation in produc- 

 tion. But where the farmer devotes his time pri- 

 marily to the management of the farm and hires 

 large numbers of laborers, the proportions in 

 which these two factors should be brought to- 

 gether is not a simple problem. 



There is no fixed ratio, which holds good for 

 all times and all places, between the number of 

 laborers and the amount of capital-goods which 

 should be employed in the production of any par- 

 ticular crop, and of course the proportion will 

 vary with the crops which are being produced. 

 Nearly everything that is now done by machinery 

 has one time been done by hand, and much that is 

 now done by hand may some day be done by ma- 

 chinery. At a given time and place, however, 

 there should exist a certain ratio between the 

 number of laborers and the amount of capital- 

 goods brought together in any particular line of 

 production, in order that the farmer may win the 

 largest net profit for his efforts. 



93 



