FARMING AS A BUSINESS. 



153 



of each which in combination with the others is required to 

 produce a net output of the value of ;^i,ooo. Here the land is 

 shown in terms of both acreage and capital value. 



For the purpose of measuring the efftciency of the combination 

 of the three factors it is better to take the capital value of the 

 land rather than the area. On this basis it may be shown that 

 the amount of the combination required to produce /i,ooo value 

 of net output is represented by the following figures ; — 



A 3-00 



B 4-08 



c 4-25 



D 2-90 



E 5-38 



Farm D requires the smallest amount of the three combined 

 factors to produce the amount of net output, but it is almost 

 certain that better results would be obtainable on this farm if the 

 farmer's capital were slightly increased. The capitalisation is 

 too low in proportion to the quality of the land and the amount 

 of labour used. On the whole, Farm A gives the best result. It 

 is a light land farm, of comparatively poor soil and low rent, 

 and the capital and labour appear to be nicely adjusted to 

 requirements. On Farm E more labour is required, and Farm B 

 could probably be better organised if a little more of labour and 

 capital were applied to the land. In the case of farm C the results 

 would be better if the labour and capital were spread over a little 

 more land. 



The above is only a limited record of the work in progress at 

 Oxford, because it is confined to questions which directly and 

 intimately concern the farmer. There are many other matters, 

 whose importance is national rather than local, which come 



