THE SIZE OF FARMS 



and fleeth : and the wolf catcheth them, and scat- 

 tereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he 

 is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." 1 



The management of a farm is something which 

 must be diffused through the details of the work. 

 There is a withdrawal of the efficient manager's 

 ability from the details and a concentration of it 

 upon the general supervision of the farm as the 

 size of the farm increases. As more and more of 

 the details are delegated to hired men these details 

 are not looked after so well as they might be if 

 looked after directly by the master. Cato, a 

 Roman agricultural writer, says, "Neither the 

 assiduity and experience of the hired manager, 

 nor the power and willingness of the master to 

 lay out money in improvements, are so effectual 

 as this one thing, the presence of the master; 

 which, unless it is frequent with the operations, it 

 will happen to him as in an army when the general 

 is absent; all things will be at a stand." 2 And, 

 again, Pliny says, "The ancients were in the habit 

 of saying, that it is the eye of the master that does 

 more towards fertilizing a field than anything 

 else." 3 



The question of the most desirable size of 

 farms, when viewed from the standpoint of the 



1 Gospel of St. John, Chapter X, verses 12 and 13. 



2 Adam Dickson, The Husbandry of the Ancients, Vol. I, p. 

 200. 



8 Natural History, Book XVIII, Chapter 8, Bohn's edition, 

 Vol. IV, p. 17. 



125 



