DIVERSIFIED AND SPECIALIZED FARMING 107 



COMPARATIVE MERITS OF SPECIALIZED AND DIVERSIFIED 



FARMING 



77. Merits of each type. There are several ways in 

 which special farming has the advantage. One may 

 become more skilled if he has bat one or two things to 

 study. If he is very short of capital, he may have con- 

 siderable of one thing when the same capital does not allow 

 a fair amount of several things. With any given area, 

 the fields may be larger and so greatly facilitate labor. 

 Farmers who follow specialized farming find it easier to 

 get away for a vacation, but this is only another way of say- 

 ing that such farming does not provide a full year's work. 



There are several considerations that so far outweigh 

 all others that the vast majority of farmers find that it 

 pays better to have several important products. Diversi- 

 fied farming provides for crop rotation. It usually pro- 

 vides against total failure. It usually distributes the 

 income over the year and provides work for men, horses, 

 and machinery for a large proportion of the time. 



Persons who have never farmed fail to appreciate the 

 importance of these considerations. Very naturally, they 

 compare farming with city work, but such a comparison 

 is very misleading. They are usually attracted by the 

 idea of extreme specialization and are likely to prefer some 

 fad rather than a staple product. The uncommon things 

 are exploited in publications for the same reason that 

 newspapers tell of the unusual things. 



78. Diversified farming and crop rotation. Nearly 

 all kinds of farming require rotation of crops, if yields 

 are to be maintained. A crop may occupy the land only 

 one year, or several years as with alfalfa and nursery stock, 

 or many years as with orchards, but in practically every 



