CAPITAL IN FARMING. 5 



this brings me directly to the consideration of the question, 

 What is the proper size of a farm ? 



Many persons are universal advocates of small farms, and 

 take every opportunity to establish their case by theory and 

 example. For authority they are fond of going back to the 

 ancient Romans, among whom agriculture was iu great 

 esteem, and whose writers invariably held that a small area, 

 thoroughly tilled, possessed every advantage over a larger 

 tract, poorly cultivated ; a precept valuable as applying to the 

 husbandry of thickly-settled districts, such as the region of 

 Rome then was. 



Few would be so unwise, however, as to contend that the 

 stock-raiser on our Western plains ought, for the better prose- 

 cution of his calling, to fence in a small tract of land. Rather 

 let him range over that vast common, and watch his increasing 

 herd, paying no attention to bounds or limits. He is the 

 gainer, and the soil can suffer in nothing ; and herein is con- 

 tained a suggestion leading to a simple solution of this prob- 

 lem. We here perceive that the kind of production and 

 the amount of land to be employed are mutually dependent. 

 But there is yet room for further deduction, and, presuming 

 same amounts of capital, it is seen that the size of a farm, 

 and character as well, are determined by the distance and 

 importance of the nearest commercial centres. 



This rule demands further statement and illustration. In 

 the degree that tillage land is cheap, and markets far, — con- 

 ditions which commonly co-exist, — should the farm be larger, 

 and devoted to that interest which calls for less expense in 

 cultivating. In other words, where laud is cheapest, the 

 cost of working it should be reduced to a minimum ; and 

 this least cost of working is best represented by the grow- 

 ing of stock, which by natural means supply their own 

 waste ; while, on the contrary, where laud is very dear, 

 only such an amount of capital should remain in the land as 

 will leave in the hands of the possessor working capital 

 sufficient thoroughly to till that land ; to which an exact 

 parallel is afforded by the merchant, who, in a locality 

 favorable for trade, and therefore commanding high rent, 

 occupies as little room as the proper conduct of his business 

 will permit ; otherwise, a certain part of his capital would 



