26 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



23. Is the size of the farm business increasing or decreasing? 

 Why? What circumstances enable a farmer to conduct a bigger 

 business on a given acreage? Does a bigger business mean a more 

 profitable business ? 



24. What acreage appears to be most profitable at the present time? 

 What is the limiting factor ? Is this limit likely to be pushed outward ? 



25. The scientific- management movement in industry today lays 

 much stress upon plant design and shop management. Do these 

 questions have equal importance to the farm manager ? 



26. What are the principal considerations to be taken into account 

 in the lay-out of the farm ? Give reasons. 



27. Point out the importance and possibilities of a working plan 

 for man labor; for horse labor. Can efficiency be carried as far in 

 this direction by the farmer as by the manufacturer? Why? Be 

 very careful in answering this question. Don't imagine that all fac- 

 tories are 100 per cent efficient, nor be modest about the possibilities 

 of really scientific farming. 



28. Show the importance of the problem of how to buy raw mate- 

 rial, e.g., feedstuffs or fertilizer. If we say that a dairyman is buying 

 the wrong feed in spite of the fact that his cattle are thriving, what do 

 we mean ? Has he harmed anyone by so doing ? Is this a concrete case 

 under the general issue discussed in questions 16-18, above ? Explain. 



29. What are the advantages of the family system as a form of 

 farm organization ? Has it also some weaknesses and defects ? What 

 are they ? 



30. What changes have come about in the organization of other 

 industries which have already passed out of the family system? 

 Have these marked gains in economic efficiency ? Have social prob- 

 lems been created thereby ? Do they appear to be in process of being 

 solved or to be growing worse ? 



31. Would it be possible to carry these industrial types of organi- 

 zation over into agriculture ? Why should we desire to do so ? Why 

 hesitate ? 



32. Point out the principal advantages of having a larger unit of 

 operation in agriculture. Might this end be secured by other means 

 than the resort to industrial forms of organization ? Explain. 



^. Even if we have operating units of the most efficient size, may 

 it be desirable to have a larger unit of commercial organization or 

 financial control? Is this the situation in the great industrial cor- 

 porations? Are there any attendant disadvantages or dangers? 

 May they be eliminated ? 



34. May these advantages be secured by farmers through co- 

 operative organization? Does such organization avoid the dangers 

 of large-scale corporations ? 



