FITTING SCHEME TO CONDITIONS 71 



the farmer is raising the productivity of his 

 farm and by intensive cultivation increasing the 

 size of his business. 



The American farmer fits his scheme of farm- 

 ing to his conditions by increasing the yield per 

 man. The Oriental cultivator of the soil lives 

 by forcing the production per acre; for in 

 America there is plenty of land and in China 

 plenty of labor. It is not uncommon for a farm 

 of two acres to support a Chinese family of 

 twelve. Certain Western wheat farmers raise 

 a crop on one-half of their land each year and 

 plow the other half for the succeeding season's 

 crop, thus increasing the area which one man 

 can cultivate by extending the time of plowing 

 over the whole season. The Chinese rice farmer 

 raises the young plants in a seed bed, at the 

 last moment transplanting them into the fields 

 which have meantime been growing other crops. 

 He thus adds 30 to 50 days ' use of his land at a 

 heavy cost of labor. The American is a bull 

 on his own labor but a bear on land, while the 

 Chinese reverses the attitude. 



Competition and a desire for the ultimate dol- 



