6 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



in particular, or with several of them together, for the purpose 

 of obtaining the greatest net profit. 



" We may consider Agricultural Economics as a science or 

 as an art, from a theoretical point of view or from a practical 

 point of view. If we consider it as a science or theory, it is 

 the knowledge of the laws which govern the above named rela- 

 tions ; if as an art or practical matter, it is the application of 

 this knowledge in a limited, particular environment for the 

 realization of results from these relationships." 



It will be clear from this statement that Jouzier looks upon 

 farm economics as (i) the science which treats of the principles 

 which underlie the coordination of all the factors involved in 

 farming (land, labor, equipments, and the various lines of pro- 

 duction) in such a manner as will enable the farmer to secure 

 maximum net profits, and (2) the art of applying these princi- 

 ples on a given farm. 



Jouzier's definition may be accepted as describing that part 

 of the field of agricultural economics which relates to the 

 organization and the operation of the farm, but it fails to in- 

 clude all of the subject matter of agricultural economics as 

 conceived in the United States to-day, and it fails to include 

 the social point of view which needs to be considered as well as 

 the individual point of view when recommending changes in 

 our laws and institutions which affect the agricultural interests 

 of the country. 



Agricultural economics deals with the principles which under- 

 lie the farmer's problem of what to produce and how to produce 

 it, what to sell and how to sell it in order to secure the largest 

 net profit for himself consistent with the best interest of society 

 as a whole. More specifically agricultural economics treats 

 of the selection of land, labor, and equipments for a farm, the 

 choice of crops to be grown, the selection of live stock enterprises 

 to be carried on, and the whole question of the proportions in which 

 all these agencies should be combined. These questions are 

 treated primarily from the point of view of costs and prices. 

 The economic basis for answering these questions is found in 

 the price of land, the wages of labor, the cost of tools, machinery, 



