236 



AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



tax will tend to keep the land on the market for those who wish 

 to use it at a price not so far from its use value, and in this way 

 facilitate land buying on the part of farmers. It is not at all 

 necessary, in order to secure this result, that the tax be con- 

 fiscatory. A slight discrimination against large holdings is 

 sufficient to produce the desired result. 



Gift, inheritance, and profits, aided by a good credit system, 

 are the most important means of acquiring the ownership of 

 land. Now that the government has practically exhausted 

 its supply of good farms, and competition is driving the price 

 of land higher and higher, it becomes more and more important 

 that every facility be provided the farmer for making the most 

 of the means which yet remain for acquiring the ownership of 

 land. The farmer should have every facility for acquiring a 

 knowledge of the facts and principles which underlie his art, 

 in order that he may so operate his farm as to win large profits 

 from which to save money to invest in land. 



PROBLEM ILLUSTRATING THE FOREGOING 

 PRINCIPLES 



i. Four farmers, A, B, C, and D, are in competition for four grades 

 of land, ist, 2d, 3d, 4th. The following figures represent the value 

 of the produce which the farmers of each grade can produce on the 

 land of different grades as a result of the expenditure of six dollars' 

 worth of labor and capital: 



(a) How much differential rent would be paid for the amount of 

 land employed in each case (allowing 5 cents as a margin in each 

 case) ? 



(b) Supposing that the six dollars are expended upon one acre in 

 case of the fourth grade land, and that the third grade land is farmed 



