CHAPTER XXX 



METHODS OF STUDYING AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC 



QUESTIONS 



In the preceding chapters it has been assumed that the 

 farmer possessed the knowledge essential to the passing of 

 judgment upon the relative profitableness of crops, the best 

 method of disposing of crops, the choice of livestock enterprises, 

 and the choice of agencies of production with respect to kind, 

 quality, and the amount of each. A perfect knowledge on these 

 points will never exist ; the problems to be solved always involve 

 the future with its unknown factors to lend uncertainty. It is 

 true, however, that a better knowledge of past results and 

 present conditions add greatly to the accuracy of judgments 

 regarding what to do in managing a farm or in planning legis- 

 lation affecting agriculture. 



Our knowledge of the character of economic forces comes 

 through reasoning based upon the available facts. In economics 

 as in other sciences, the work of the student consists in gathering 

 facts, sifting and classifying them, formulating hypotheses, 

 gathering more evidence with which to test the tentative con- 

 clusions,until all the relevant facts have been considered and the 

 correct conclusions drawn. Through these processes it should be 

 possible in time to approximate the truth regarding the operation 

 of particular economic forces. But the economist is never 

 certain of having considered all of the facts, and he is ever 

 hoping to formulate a new hypothesis which will more completely 

 explain the evidence in his possession. 



Theoretical work in general may be divided into two classes, 

 the sterile and the fruitful. The sterility of the theories of the 

 one class is usually due to failure to see the problem in its entire 

 setting. The conclusions are sterile, as a rule not because of 



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