CHAPTER IX 

 LAND AS A BASIS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



LAND, labor, and equipment are the agencies of production. 

 Without land there is no production of economic goods by the 

 farmer, the manufacturer, or the merchant. The term " land " 

 is here used in the broad sense to include all natural agents. 

 When a man buys land he acquires the use of the air, the sun- 

 shine, the rainfall, the wind blow, and in the United States, 

 unless especially specified to the contrary, he acquires all 

 minerals lying beneath the surface. 



While all classes of economic activity require land, agri- 

 culture makes the greatest demands for this agent of produc- 

 tion. The census of manufacturers fails to record the area used 

 by the manufacturers, but gives especial attention to the statis- 

 tics of labor, material, and machinery used in the manufactur- 

 ing enterprises. In the agricultural census the subject of the 

 land area used is given a prominent position, and it is shown 

 that in 1910 there were 878,798,325 acres of land in farms in 

 the United States. 



The economic uses of land have been classified as (i) affording 

 standing room, (2) supplying mineral products, and (3) provid- 

 ing the conditions and materials of plant growth. Manufac- 

 turers use land for standing room and make heavy demands for 

 the products of the mines. Commerce makes heavy demands 

 for land to be used for transportation purposes and the loca- 

 tion of warehouses, but agriculture makes use of the soil in 

 the growing of plants which are the means of satisfying human 

 wants. 



Farm land varies greatly in its economic capacity. The 

 capacity of a given area of land is measured in terms of the number 

 of units of labor and capital which can be associated with it with 

 optimum results at a given stage of industrial progress. The 



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