AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS DEFINED AND DESCRIBED 9 



Bulletins of this character have brought home, to the men 

 in charge of experiment stations, the truth that every problem 

 is many-sided and that no experiment station results are ready 

 for the farmer until the many sides have been studied by the 

 many specialists with the requisite, preparation, and the results 

 welded together into a harmonious statement of the whole truth 

 about the question so far as it can be obtained. 



The lack of this rounding out process means the issuing of 

 half truths, and it is the issuing of half truths that has done much 

 to discredit the experiment stations and to make farmers look 

 upon scientific farming as proper fun for men of fortune, but poor 

 business for farmers. 



It is in the circle with the other scientists specializing in 

 agriculture, devoting himself to the economic forces which in- 

 fluence the farmer, that the economist is finding a place. While 

 economics deals with but one of the main groups of forces operat- 

 ing in the farmer's environment, yet it practically becomes the 

 actively guiding science underlying farm management for the 

 reason that while the functioning of physical and biological 

 forces change but little from generation to generation, the 

 resultants of economic forces are ever shifting, and it is neces- 

 sary for the farmer constantly to watch the shifting of economic 

 conditions ; that is, the shifting of costs and prices, with a view 

 to reorganizing his operations from time to time to fit the new 

 conditions. 



It is perhaps for this reason that some writers have used the 

 term farm management to describe this field of research and 

 education, which we here call " agricultural economics." This 

 usage has the advantage of carrying some meaning to the mind 

 untrained in economic terminology, but has the disadvantage 

 of including much that is taught in other branches of agricul- 

 tural education, and failing to convey any new and significant 

 meaning. Literally " farm management " is the art of manag- 

 ing a farm. To manage a farm intelligently the operator 

 should have a clear understanding of all the forces which in 

 any way affect the results of his actions. Some of these forces 

 are physical and are dealt with by the chemist, the physicist, 



