METHODS OF STUDYING AGRICULTURAL QUESTIONS 421 



financial account including receipts, expenditures, and inventories 

 shows the profits of a given type of farming under a given 

 manager. For example, if in one region where the conditions 

 are the same it is found that the farmers who are selling cream 

 and some dairy cows, and hogs about equal in value to the total 

 dairy receipts, are through a series of years making more money 

 than those who buy cows, sell whole milk from a larger herd 

 but keep no hogs, it would seem to indicate that the former were 

 the more profitable type of farming. It rarely happens that 

 all the farmers of a district keep accounts which give basis for 

 such a comparison. In the absence of financial accounts the 

 " Farm Survey " is a very useful method of finding a basis for 

 making up a statement of the profits derived from operating a 

 farm. 



The farm survey is an attempt to get the farmer to call to 

 mind what he had on hand in the way of farm property of all 

 kinds at the beginning of the year, the receipts and expenses 

 during the year and the property on hand at the close of the 

 year, in order that an annual statement may be made showing the 

 profits of operation. While these surveys lack much of complete 

 accuracy, they give basis for making comparisons which give 

 important suggestions regarding the relative profitableness of 

 types of farming. The farm survey has been most useful in 

 stimulating bookkeeping on the part of farmers. It is a method 

 of permanent value, improving with the increase in bookkeeping 

 by farmers. Its future use probably lies in the field of statistics 

 rather than in the field of accounting. 



The historical method. Much is gained by studying the 

 operations of economic forces through a period of time. Eco- 

 nomic forces are not easily measured, and they are so numerous, 

 of such varying strength, and so often operate in opposite direc- 

 tions that at any given moment it is difficult to make an estimate 

 of the future resultant of these forces, unless the changes 

 wrought by them in the past can be resorted to as a basis of 

 judgment. 



The federal census for 1900 showed that more than a third of 

 the farmers of the United States were tenants and about a third 



