INTRODUCTION 5 



farm life it has been difficult to extract them. 

 One man may raise an acre of violets and sell 

 them far above the cost of production because 

 of some novel advertising scheme which con- 

 nects him with the wearer of flowers. His in- 

 come arises from his ability as an advertiser 

 and not as a raiser of violets. Moreover, if a 

 few more acres of violets were raised, the mar- 

 ket would be so flooded with the flowers that a 

 bunch would be given away with each copy of 

 a penny newspaper. 



Special crops and special markets do not en- 

 ter into the discussion of general principles. 

 Competition will take care of the first in quick 

 order and will gradually suck the excessive 

 profit from the latter. 



Farming is a conservative business, with 

 small chance of large loss. No man on earth 

 can change the economic law that the return on 

 the investment from such a business will be 

 small. 



The itemized capital account of 759 typical 

 farms in New York will show just how conser- 

 vative is the investment : 



