346 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



figures point to the fact that farms of 160 or 170 acres each are 

 the most economical. 



The most economically managed of all wheat farms is that just 

 large enough to utilize one complete set of farm implements and 

 machinery to its fullest capacity. Since one laborer is needed for 

 each set, it follows that in the above plan labor will also be uti- 

 lized to its fullest capacity. That farm is the best managed and 

 pays best on which the labor and capital expended are both 

 thus utilized to their fullest extent. It may be urged that two 

 men and two sets of implements and machinery ought to do just 

 as well and perhaps better on a farm twice as large. They do 

 not, however, for the reason that there is no economy from fur- 

 ther organization, since one man with one set of modern farm 

 implements and machinery has all the advantages organization 

 can give. Moreover, when there is just one worker, that worker 

 is in general practice the owner of the farm. Where more than 

 one is needed, resort must be made to hired laborers. The last- 

 named fact is important in determining why one set is more effi- 

 cient pro rata than two. The work of an owner is always more 

 careful and less wasteful than that of a hired laborer. The force 

 of this statement can be fully appreciated only by those who have 

 seen the work of the average hired laborer in the harvest field. 



Turning our attention now to the average expenditure of labor 

 per acre, we note that the figures for Olmsted County in 1870 

 are very high. The large amount of labor needed then per acre 

 accounts for this. In the comparisons for 1900 the Olmsted 

 farmer is found to expend less for labor per acre than the farmers 

 of the other counties. His farming, however, is very different 

 from that of the others. His work is largely concerned with 

 stock ; and for work of this kind the farmer's wife and children 

 lend, in practice, a very helpful hand. Besides, the work is 

 evenly distributed over the entire year. He gets along with com- 

 paratively little hired labor when his farm is of the average size. 

 The wheat farmer, on the other hand, is confronted with certain 

 busy seasons of the year, when a great deal of work must be 

 accomplished in a very limited time. The need of hiring extra 

 labor at such times is obvious. The figures for labor in the three 



