16 THE NEW BUSINESS OF FARMING 



on a hundred-and-fifty-acre farm as on one of 

 only fifty acres. On the larger farms, then, the 

 labor of horses and men, the chief items of cost 

 in raising crops, is cut in half. 



The small farm cannot afford sufficient 

 machinery to do the work economically; but 

 neither can the farmer afford to be without the 

 machinery. He must overload his investment, 

 per acre, in tools, for the same tools that are 

 required to farm two hundred and fifty acres 

 are needed for a farm of fifty. But in the 

 latter case the investment, per acre, would be 

 five times as much. 



The equipment for one hundred and twenty- 

 five acres of land — horses, men and tools — will, 

 with very little additional cost, farm one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five acres. It is not sur- 

 prising to find that the farmer's labor income 

 jumps fifty-eight per cent, with this additional 

 fifty acres. When the farm runs above two 

 hundred acres in size, some duplication in 

 machinery is required and the proportion of in- 

 creased return to the farmer becomes smaller. 

 At about three hundred acres, the duplication is 



