INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE FARMING 815 



but may also reduce the cost per unit of product. There will always be 

 a limit to the amount of labor and capital that can be applied mcst 

 economically. The following quotation and tabulation from the Tribune 

 Farmer illustrates the point in question: 



"The following figures show how two fields on the same farm in 

 New York State were operated; the first under a very intensive system 

 of management, the other under a comparatively extensive system of 

 management. The figures in the first column are an average made up from 

 careful records for ten years. The figures in the second column are made 

 up from careful estimates, as no records are available: 



"In this case, where the markets and supply of capital and labor 

 apparently warranted it, the increasing of the intensity of the methods 

 of production more than doubled the net profits an acre. The cost and 

 the profit a bushel, however, remained practically the same, the increased 

 income an acre being wholly due to increased yields, which in turn were 

 due to better and more intensive methods." 



Given $2000 to raise potatoes, which of the above degrees of intensity 

 would give the best returns on the capital in hand? On the intensive 

 plan $2000 would finance as many acres as the cost of production per 



