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AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE FARMER : 



farm is not paying well. Should I reduce the acreage, and use 

 all my capital and labour on a smaller farm ? " The following 

 example has been furnished by the Oxford Institute to show 

 that a competent investigator, compiling a set of records in a 

 district or for a type of farming, could provide the information 

 on which answers to such questions could be based. 



The amount of land and its capital value, the capital of the 

 farmer, with the labour employed, are shown for a group of five 

 farms. The productive result of the combination of the land, 

 capital and labour, is shown in the net output, or the total net 

 sales of the farms. 



Farmers will appreciate the differences between these farms 

 more quickly if the rents and amounts of farmers' capital are 

 shown per acre, and the amount of labour per 100 acres. 



If the rent of the land is an indication of its quality, as most 

 farmers would assume that it is, it will be seen that the application 

 of capital and labour to the land does not vary with its quality. 

 But the result of the varying combinations of the three factors — 

 land, capital and labour— may be judged by finding the amount 



