LIVE STOCK ON DRY FARMS 439 



portance. It would seem safe to say that the area to 

 be farmed should increase as the precipitation decreases, 

 for the less the amount of precipitation, the fewer is the 

 number of the crops that can be grown in a given term 

 of years. It is very evident that the farmer who can 

 grow but one crop in two years should have more land 

 to till than the farmer who may expect to get a crop 

 practically every year. It was this consideration that 

 led to the granting of homesteads in certain areas of 320 

 acres instead of 160 acres, the usual size for such farms. 



The tillage of a soil that is naturally friable and 

 that holds moisture readily does not call for so much 

 labor as the tillage of a heavy soil, hence the farmer 

 whose soil is of the first class can till a much larger 

 area than the farmer whose soil is of the second class, 

 and with no greater expenditure of labor. When tilling 

 the heavy soil, the compensation may come from larger 

 yields, at least in some instances. On general principles, 

 therefore, the lighter the soil, the larger should be the 

 area that is capable of being farmed. 



When determining the size of the farm, much de- 

 pends on the capacity of the farmer. It is certainly 

 safe to assume that the less the capacity of the farmer, 

 the smaller should be the amount of the land which he 

 tills. One farmer with large capacity may handle fairly 

 well a whole section, or even more than a section, where- 

 as another farmer may not have capacity to handle well 

 a quarter section. Something depends on the farmer's 

 family. A farmer whose family is sufficiently grown 

 to enable him to do his work without hiring should suc- 

 ceed better on a farm large enough to utilize all the 

 labor than on one of less size. As wages are at the 

 present time, the dry land farmer should sedulously aim 

 to avoid hiring to the greatest extent possible, and to 

 accomplish this end when investing he should gauge ac- 

 cordingly the size of the farm that he can till. 



