ORGANIZATION OF THE FARM 



assumption that the same amount of managerial 

 activity is required for each acre of land, regard- 

 less of the intensity of culture, there is little ques- 

 tion as to the choice. It is doubtless true that one 

 man can superintend the operations of more labor- 

 ers and capital-goods when they are brought to- 

 gether under one roof as in a large manufacturing 

 plant than when they are distributed over a vast 

 area of land, but on the farm and in the produc L 

 tion of a given crop we believe that, as a rule, the 

 demands upon the time and energy of the man- 

 ager, per composite unit of the two factors, labor- 

 ers and capital-goods, will remain practically the 

 same regardless of the area on which such unit 

 is expended. We shall proceed, therefore, upon 

 this assumption in our attempt to ascertain the 

 degree of intensity of culture which is most eco- 

 nomical where land has acquired some value so 

 that something must be paid for its use. 



When a fixed sum per acre must be paid for its 

 use, land should be cultivated more intensively 

 than when it could be had free. Suppose, for ex- 

 ample, that three dollars per acre must be paid 

 for the use of land. We may think of this rent 

 as taking all of the product of the first four and 

 one-half, or R composite units of the factors ap- 

 plied (Fig. i). In this discussion we shall speak 

 of that share of the product which is left after 

 paying the rent, as a net return. The farmer may 

 be said to receive no net return from his expendi- 

 105 



