268 



FARM MANAGEMENT 



country. Apparently, the crop yields are as good, or a 

 little better, on the large farms than on the small ones, 

 with the exception of hay, which seems to yield a little 

 better on the smaller farms. Certainly the small farms 

 are not producing more per acre. In addition, much more 

 of the food is consumed in the production, since more 

 horses are kept per acre. The smaller farms seem to be 

 too small for the best production from the standpoint of 

 the city, as well as from the standpoint of the farmer. 



172. Relation of size of farm to keeping the boys on 

 the farm. One of the chief reasons why boys leave the 

 farm is because there is not enough work to make it pay 

 to stay. There may be work puttering around, but a boy 



TABLE 53. RELATION OP SIZE OF FAKM TO BOYS LEAVING THE 

 FARM, 674 FARMS, JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK 



of energy wants to do productive work. The writer re- 

 cently heard a farmer on a 40-acre farm say that he could 

 keep four men busy. His seventeen-year-old son added 

 that he would be no better off in the fall than in the spring. 

 They were both right. The boy will leave the farm, be- 

 cause there is not profitable work for him. 



A study of this question was made in Jefferson County, 



