346 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



One-sixth of an acre planted to radishes and lettuce, followed by 

 eggplant and cauliflower, and the next year to radishes alone, followed 

 by eggplant, brought over $200 each year; at the rate of over $1,200 

 an acre. Again, $86.78 was received from one thirty-second of an 

 acre, at the rate of $2,780 per acre. This amount could have been 

 raised to $4,000 an acre; all without using glass. 



"In my judgment, working early and late to raise more corn to 

 feed more hogs, in order to buy more land, is not farming but specu- 

 lation. The great fault of American agriculture is too much land." 

 That condition is passing away, and the farmer is learning that the 

 small farm near the town is the money-maker. The time is at hand 

 when the principles we are laying down in this book for specialties will 

 be applied to the great staples, and we shall be able to double and 

 redouble our yields. 



The most important thing to teach today is how to make the 

 greatest profit from the least land. When the farmer has learned 

 that, he will have no cause to fear the absorption of farms into 

 large holdings. The value of the farm lies chiefly in the farmer, 

 so that a very small tract by intensive cultivation will give a good 

 living and provide for old age. Even two acres will do this and 

 more than this. 



no. THE SIZE OF FARMS AS RELATED TO PROFITS 1 

 BY G. F. WARREN AND K. C. LIVERMORE 



Many persons who are not engaged in farming, and some farmers, 

 believe that smaller farms better tilled will bring greater profits. All 

 the figures that we have secured in this county, as well as figures 

 secured from five townships in Livingston County, show that the 

 larger farms are much more prosperous. The fact that there are not 

 nearly so many farms as formerly shows the change in farming to meet 

 the conditions that call for larger farms. The fundamental cause of 

 this change is the change from hand labor to the use of machinery. 

 And since more and more machinery is being used, it is to be expected 

 that farms will continue to increase in size for some time. 



This does not mean that large "bonanza" farms are to develop. 

 The group of largest farms averages only 261 acres. All the farms 

 are the typical American "family-farm," on which the farmer and his 



1 Adapted from "An Agricultural Survey of Tompkins County, New York," 

 Bulletin 295, Cornell Experiment Station, pp. 415-1?. 



