.\X AGRICULTURAL CAREER 145 



in the lap of the gods. Supposing conditions to be 

 normal, at a conservative figure a well-run farm on 

 average land, producing milk, corn and pigs, should 

 yield up to ^4 per acre net profit, after paying rental and 

 all other expenses (including 5 or 6 per cent on the 

 working capital). I'his profit would be shared equally 

 between the partners ; so that the man embarking on a 

 500-acre farm would, on this basis, get ;(^iooo a year as 

 his share, which would bring the total interest earned 

 by his ;(^ 1 0,000 working capital to the very respectable 

 rate of 15 per cent. But the consumer must not say 

 that this is profiteering, for there are bad years in farming 

 as in every other industry ; and the farmer, if he be 

 well advised, will put by each good year a certain 

 amount to a reserve fund. 



THE MAN WITH SMALL CAPITAL 



Coming now to the case of the man with little capital, 

 say under ^(^looo; unless he is really capable of hard 

 manual work on the land he should not think of farming. 

 The first step would be for him to test himself thoroughly 

 by going on to some farm for a period of three months 

 and working as a labourer, for success will depend upon 

 his own power of work ; and if he is on his trial in summer 

 time, and likes it, he must ever bear in mind that work 

 in the winter months is a very different matter. There 

 is not the faintest use for the would-be farmer of this 

 type to think that he can do some of the work himself, 

 and employ permanent outside labour for the rest — 

 his small holding cannot stand it. It is the individual 

 work of the smallhoKlcr himself that counts mure than 

 all else. 

 10 



