DIVERSIFIED AND SPECIALIZED FARMING 109 



82. Cases in which specialized farming may pay. 



The most important cases when very specialized farming 

 may continue to pay are when some one product provides 

 for full employment of men, horses, and equipment, when 

 some one product is extremely profitable, and when extra 

 labor is very easy to secure. Sometimes there is a shortage 

 of land adapted to an enterprise, so that there is, in effect, 

 a corner on the product. Farmers may then make more 

 with a partial year's work than with a full year's work 

 with usual products. Such cases as this are very rare 

 indeed and usually last for only a short time until some 

 other region finds that it can grow the high-priced product. 

 There are some instances when it is easy to get an abun- 

 dant supply of labor at the particular season when it is 

 required. Occasionally a farmer combines some manu- 

 facturing enterprise with farming. 



SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR 



83. Providing a full year's work. No matter how 

 profitable a product is, there is a limit to the amount that 

 can be raised with a given amount of labor. Usually 

 only a small fraction of the year can be devoted to the 

 product. The farmer's problem is a very complicated 

 one. It is not so easy as picking the most profitable en- 

 terprises. He must determine the combination that will 

 give the greatest returns for the year's work. No one 

 should expect to make a very large profit from farming, 

 unless his business provides a full year's work. 1 It is 

 even more important and more difficult to provide a full 

 year's work for horses than for men. 



The time at which crops require work varies with the 



1 See also U. S. Dcpt. Agr., Yearbook, 1911, pp. 269-284. 



