12 



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 ease by theory and 

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

 ancient Romans, among whom agriculture was in great es- 

 teein, ard 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 rancre over that vast common, and watch his increas- 

 ing 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. AV"e here perceive that the kind of production, and the 

 amount of land to be employed are mutually dependent. But 

 there is jet room fjr 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 import- 

 ance of the nearest commercial centers. 



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 land is cheapest, the cost 

 of working it should be reduced to a minimum ; and this least 

 cost of working is best represented by the growing of stock, 

 which by natural means supply their own waste ; while, on 

 the contrary, where land 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 mer- 



