FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 



619 



Usually a farm should have two to four important products, 

 and usually at least one of these should be an animal product and 

 at least one should be a cash crop. Diversified farming is often 

 spoken of as farming where one has a little of everything. The 

 writer doubts the value of an indefinite collection of things all so 

 small that they are likely to be more or less neglected, but all in- 

 vestigations indicate the desirability of having two to four products 

 to sell, each one of which is so important that it is not neglected. 



IMPORTANCE OF A WELL-BALANCED FARM 



All the preceding discussions indicate that it is not merely good 

 cows, good crops, and a good-sized farm that need attention, but 

 that when one has improved one of these he should give attention 

 to the others. Farmers are just like all other persons they are 

 likely to have hobbies. The man with good cows is likely to be- 

 come so proud of his cows that he neglects his crops. The man 

 with good crops sometimes neglects his stock. Very often' atten- 

 tion is given to increased production when a larger business is 

 the most important point to be considered. 



There are very few farms that are good in each of the above 

 three points. In the region in Jefferson County there were 16 

 farms that had receipts per cow of $75 or more, that raised 100 

 acres of crops or more, and that had crops as good as, or better 

 than, the average. The average labor income on these farms was 

 1^1497. The lowest labor income was $733. 



In order to have a figure that will compare farms when size, 

 receipts per cow, and crop yields are given equal weight, a figure 

 was calculated for each farm representing its comparison with the 

 average farm. The average size is called 100 per cent. The 

 average receipts per cow and the average crop yields were each 

 called 100 per cent. On this basis the percentages representing 

 size of farm, receipts per cow, and crop yields for each farm were 

 calculated. These three percentages were then multiplied together 

 to get a single figure representing the farm.^ If a farm is of 



1 In making this calculation a much shorter way of calculating was used, but 

 the method given above shows the principles involved. 



