162 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



posite units brought under one management is increased, the 

 average return per composite unit, and hence the average net 

 profit per composite unit will fall, but that for a time this fall 

 in the net profit per composite unit is more than balanced by 

 the increase in the number of such units, and the net profit per 

 unit of managerial activity continues to increase until finally 

 the point is reached where the net profit per unit of managerial 

 activity reaches its maximum, and if the number of composite 

 units associated with a given amount of managerial activity 

 be increased beyond this point, the net profit per unit of the 

 latter, and hence the total net profit which the farmer will 

 be able to secure as a manager, will be reduced below the pos- 

 sible maximum. Any conditions which retard the bringing 

 about of this adjustment not only reduce the profits of the 

 farmer, but increase the cost of the nation's food supply. 



One permanent occasion for differences in the size of farms is 

 the differences in the amount of energy the men are willing to 

 put into the operation of a farm. 



Having decided upon the number of the composite units of 

 the factors which should be brought under a given amount of 

 managerial activity, that is, the intensity of the management, 

 other things remaining the same, the size of the farm should vary 

 directly with the amount of effort which the farmer is willing 

 to put forth in its management. The farmer's energy is, of 

 course, limited, and after he has performed a given amount of 

 work per day, it requires more and more inducement to impel 

 him to increase his activity. It may be that a few hours of 

 work each day would be a pleasure to him and that the profits 

 which he received from these few hours' labor would be much 

 more than enough to induce him to perform the work of manage- 

 ment ; but when hour after hour is added to the time which he 

 must spend in the fields, and the rapidity of his movements 

 from place to place must be increased more and more, in order 

 that the farm may be properly operated, each succeeding addi- 

 tion to the time and the speed of his work becomes more and 

 more wearisome, while at the same time the wants which are 

 to be satisfied by the fruits of this increased labor become less 



