good land at a lower price, and run down land at a low price. It 

 seems to be generally true that poor land affords the farmer 

 but little opportunity, as it requires too much expenditure to 

 bring up the fertility of the soil. 



5. The Amount of Capital and equipment needed by the 

 farmer becomes greater each year. How much shall be invest- 

 ed in machinery ; whether he shall raise registered cattle, hogs, 

 and horses, or make no effort and be satisfied with scrub stock, 

 are questions which have to be decided. It was estimated that 

 before the invention of the Babcock test fully one half of the 

 cows in the state of Iowa were not paying for their feed. Good 

 stock pays in two ways, (1) a larger money return, (2) a 

 larger amount of personal satisfaction in the production of 

 good rather than poor animals. 



Farm Income. The farm income depends upon many fac- 

 tors, such as weather conditions, depredation of insects, rav- 

 ages of plant'and animal diseases, and the uncertainty regard- 

 ing prices of farm products, which are certain to be far below 

 the prices paid by the consumer. The uncertainty of the in- 

 come is in a measure offset by the certainty of gaining a liveli- 

 hood. Personal qualities to a large extent determine the in- 

 come of the farmer his knowledge, his skill, his industry, the 

 exercise of good judgment in managing the business of the 

 farm, his willingness to learn from others, and his ability to 

 profit by his own mistakes and those of his neighbors. That 

 the labor income of the farms is not high is shown in an ex- 

 haust.ve study made by Dean Liberty Hyde Bailey of the New 

 York College of Agriculture. Dean Bailey shows that the la- 

 bor income of tenant farmers in the area studied was approxi- 

 mately as follows : one third of the farmers were making* less 

 than they paid to the hired man on the farm, one third of them 

 were making about as much, and one third of them were mak- 

 ing more. 



Education and Farming. Professor Bailey points, out 

 that the average labor income of those farmers who went to 

 the district school only was $.318, the average labor income of 

 those who went to the high school was $622, and the average 

 labor income of those who had more than a high school educa- 



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