108 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



Knowledge is essential to good judgment. Knowledge of 

 crops, live stock, and machinery is essential to intelligent man- 

 agement. This knowledge should include the needs of the 

 various crops and live stock, and the results which may normally 

 be expected in terms of the physical productivity of each. This 

 is not all that is needed, however. In order to decide intelli- 

 gently on what to produce, it is necessary to know the prices 

 which may be secured for each product of the farm and the 

 price which must be paid for the use of land, labor, and equip- 

 ments. The former knowledge comprises the physics, chemistry, 

 and biology of farm management ; the latter is the center of 

 the economics of farm management. It is only the active- 

 minded man who continually looks for new information who 

 will keep informed in all these branches of knowledge which 

 form the basis of rational farm management. 



Ability to give and to receive directions and explanations relating 

 to the work is very important. The tasks of the farm are 

 spread over so much territory that each workman is largely 

 self -directive in the carrying out of the work of the farm. The 

 ability to hold conditions in mind in giving instructions, and 

 to hold instructions in mind when carrying out the work is 

 very important to the success of the operation. A workman 

 should require to be told but once the depth the ground is to 

 be plowed in a given field for a given purpose, the course to 

 take in harrowing the plowed field the first time after plowing, 

 the policy of the manager with regard to deep and shallow 

 cultivation of corn, the system of feeding the horses and each 

 other variety of live stock, the approved method of milking 

 cows, and many other details. A man who forgets what he is 

 told and does as he likes may prove an unsatisfactory workman, 

 and certainly will unless he is very wise in directing his energies 

 in the interest of the proprietor. 



Self-control is one of the very important qualifications of the 

 farm manager. He who cannot control himself will have little 

 success in controlling others. Self-control is also essential to 

 rational decision on crops to grow and live stock to keep. The 

 man who lets his likes and dislikes take precedence over facts 



