FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 599 



If a farmer has only two horses, he cannot take advantage of 

 the great economy that comes from driving three- and four-horse 

 teams. Even if he could borrow the horses and machinery, he 

 could not use them to the best advantage in his small fields. The 

 farms of over 150 acres are the smallest ones in the counties 

 studied that employ the equivalent of two men and five horses. 



If the farmer has sons, he needs enough land to provide profit- 

 able work for them else they will have to leave the farm. In 

 Bulletin 341 of this station, the effect of the size of farm on 

 boys leaving the farm is shown. 



To make a moderate success on a small farm is much more 

 difficult than to make a good success on a fair-sized farm. When 

 the necessary equipment and horses for an 80-acre farm will be 

 almost sufficient for 160 acres, and when a family can do all the 

 work on the larger farm, it will be seen at once that the larger 

 farm will double the income without much more expense. It 

 therefore becomes a task for a genius on the 80-acre farm to 

 compete with a very ordinary mortal on the larger area. 



It takes much less intelligence to make a profit out of a mowing 

 machine that cuts 50 acres a year than it does out of one that cuts 

 10 acres. It takes less ability to make a profit out of four horses 

 that raise 100 acres of crops than it does to make a profit out of 

 half as many horses that farm only 40 acres. It takes much less 

 intelligence to direct a hired man so as to make a profit from 

 employing him if he drives three or four horses, than it does if 

 he drives two horses. 



The above discussion applies to general farming and dairy farm- 

 ing, but, whatever the type of farming, the farm should be large 

 enough to allow for the use of the well-established labor-saving 

 practices, and large enough to provide a variety of products that 

 make a full year's work. For truck growing, 80 acres may be as 

 large as 300 acres in general farming. An acre partly covered 

 with greenhouses may be an equally large business. 



There is much discussion of this subject by persons who have 

 had no farm experience or whose farm experience was gained 

 before manure-spreaders, potato-diggers, and hay-loaders were 

 invented. These persons usually advise little farms rather than 



