SIZE OF FARMS 265 



Usually it is not possible to get much more than 300 acres 

 that is well located with respect to the farm buildings. 

 When the land is too far from the buildings, too much time 

 is lost in going to work, and in hauling manure and crops. 

 Even if one can buy land that is properly located, 640 acres 

 is ordinarily the limit that can be run from one center. If 

 the farm is laid out like Figure 80, this area would be as 

 near the buildings as 160 acres usually is, because the 

 buildings are so frequently at the corner of the farm. 

 With some exploitive types of farming, such as occur in 

 parts of the West, the products are not hauled to the 

 farmstead, and manure is not hauled back to the fields, 

 hence larger farms may pay. But with mixed farming 

 that develops as the country grows older, 300 to 600 acres 

 is all that it is generally profitable to run from one center. 

 Men who have more land usually run it as separate farms. 



The Taft Ranch in Texas has tried different sizes of 

 units, from 50 acres for a farm rented to a Mexican, to 2000 

 acres of crops for a farm run by a manager with hired labor, 

 and with the buildings all at one center. The plans for 

 the future are to lay out the largest units in tracts of 1200 

 acres of tillable land, with 600 acres on each side of the 

 road. Larger areas make the fields too far from the 

 buildings. The crops are cotton and enough forage to 

 feed the mules, so that there is a minimum of hauling. 

 The land is level and all other conditions ideal for large 

 farms. 



In regions where the land is nearly all tillable, and 

 the rainfall fairly good, a farm should contain at least 160 

 acres. This provides for a fairly efficient use of men, 

 horses, and machinery, when the chief crops raised are 

 grain and hay. But it takes less ability to handle a 320- 

 acre farm efficiently. The sizes that are proving most 



