33 6 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



small cost from the Middle West to eastern cities, the prices of dairy 

 products in the East and West are not greatly different; but the cost 

 of production, as we have seen, differs very materially. If the dairy 

 industry is to survive in New England it is therefore necessary that 

 it should be confined to those phases of dairying hi which the price 

 of the product is not necessarily based on the butter value of the 

 milk. Not only that, but dealers and the public generally must 

 recognize the necessity for paying higher prices for milk in eastern 

 cities. The fact that dairy cows give some occupation during the 

 long whiter season in New England is a mitigating circumstance and 

 is one of the reasons why dairying persists under such disadvantageous 

 conditions. Even if the farmer does not earn ordinary wages for the 

 work he does in his dairy in the whiter, it is frequently the case that 

 the time thus employed would otherwise be largely wasted, so that 

 any profit he makes over the actual expenditures in conducting this 

 business is so much added to the annual income. The fact remains, 

 however, that economic conditions in New England are unfavorable 

 to the dairy industry. Many other illustrations could be given of 

 economic advantages enjoyed by certain enterprises in particular 

 localities, but this is sufficient to show the importance of the subject. 



C. Economical Combinations of the Factors 



105. HOW MUCH LAND? 1 

 BY M. B. WAITE 



The usual aim of the fruit grower as well as the farmer is to pro- 

 duce large quantities of salable produce with the least amount of 

 labor and invested capital. In many cases, especially in opening up 

 new countries, extensive methods were probably the most profitable 

 at the outset. In extensive farming, nature is depended on to do the 

 greater part; man does comparatively little. In intensive methods, 

 the opposite is attempted; nature is assisted in every possible way 

 and encouraged to do her utmost, the aim being the production of the 

 largest quantities and of the finest quality per acre. As year after 

 year the country becomes more thickly settled, land becomes scarcer 

 and more valuable, and intensive methods must gain prominence. 

 Even now we hear certain individuals criticized for attempting to 

 farm too much land more than they can handle profitably. 



1 Adapted from Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1904, pp. 172-73. 



