OREGON FARMER 



37 



at the higher elevations, so that in that district only the hardier 

 crop varieties may be grown. 



Getting Started Right. 



Upon a wise selection of the farm itself more than on anything 

 else, depends the fanner's opportunity for success. There are, in 

 each district in the state, farmers who are always prosperous, 

 who get paying crops in "off" years and good crops in ordinary 

 years, who live in comfortable homes, and send their sons and 

 daughters to college. These are the farmers who have selected a 

 type of farming fitted to their individual capacities and chosen a 

 region suitable to that type and then have located the right farm 

 on which to carry out their plan. Other farmers in the same com- 

 munity will spend a lifetime working against unfavorable odds because 

 of the poor selection of the type of farming, of land, or of methods. 



Size of Farm. 



A common mistake in purchasing a farm is selecting too large 

 a size for the type of work to be done, investing too much of the 

 capital in land and reserving an insufficient amount for equipment 

 and operation. The successful modern farmers in Oregon are almost 

 universally those who select the smaller farms, work them more 

 intensively, and diversify their production. The newcomers to 

 Oregon who fail are more often those who speculate in farm lands. 

 The man who comes to Oregon as a speculator in land is in nearly 

 all cases less successful than the man who comes to farm the land. 

 Individual farm values here increase largely as production on the 

 individual farm increases. Poorly farmed land increases in value 

 slowly or not at all. The good farmer gets the double profits of 

 successful production and increased land value. This means that 

 the best opportunity in both directions lies with the farmer who 

 selects the number of acres best adapted to his type of farming. 



On the more successful Oregon farms of the different types the 

 gross profits per acre and the best sizes of farms from which to get 

 such profits are about as follows: 



BEST SIZE OF FARM (CROPPING AREA) FOR DIFFERENT TYPES. 

 On Basis of Annual Gross Income of $4000. 



The most successful farms are those of sufficient size and diversity 

 of production to keep the farmer and his horses busy throughout 

 the year, securing the best efficiency in the use of capital, labor, 

 horses and machinery. Twenty to thirty acres per horse is the 



