THE SIZE OF FARMS 



labor, and capital-goods, which should be brought 

 under a given amount of managing activity, has 

 already been considered in the preceding chapter 

 and we shall now consider, therefore, the condi- 

 tions which set the limit to the quantity of man- 

 agerial activity which a farmer will expend and 

 which ultimately determines the size of the farm. 

 Having decided upon the number of the com- 

 posite units of the factors which should be 

 brought under a given amount of managerial 

 activity, that is the intensity of the management, 

 other things remaining the same, the size of the 

 farm should vary directly as the amount of effort 

 which the farmer is willing to put forth in its 

 management. The farmer's energy is, of course, 

 limited, and after he has performed a given 

 amount of work per day, it requires more and 

 more inducement to impel him to increase his 

 activity. It may be that a few hours of work each 

 day would be a pleasure to him, and that the 

 profits which he received from these few hours' 

 labor would be much more than enough to induce 

 him to perform the work of management; but 

 when hour after hour is added to the time which 

 he must spend in the fields, and the rapidity of his 

 movements from place to place must be increased 

 more and more, in order that the farm may be 

 properly operated, each succeeding addition to 

 the time and the speed of his work becomes more 

 and more wearisome, while at the same time the 



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