SIZE AND DIVERSITY OF FARM 



827 



priced and competent manager. Such management is even more difficult 

 than the management of large-scale manufacturing, because farming is 

 subject to a great extent to weather conditions and includes a diversity of 

 operations. 



Manufacturing has increased enormously, and its development has 

 seen a marked change from large numbers of small factories to smaller 

 numbers of large factories. The increase in the size of manufacturing 

 plants has been very great. There are such decided advantages in the large 

 manufacturing plant that it is difficult for the small one to compete w ith 

 it. The large area over which large farms must extend make factory 

 methods inapplicable. The change in season, the variety of enterprises, 

 the sudden approach of storms, the encroachment of insect enemies and 

 plant diseases, all call for abrupt changes in the character of work and for 

 reorganization of the farm forces. 



Medium Size Farms Superior. — Farm surveys in many sections show 

 that the labor income of farms increases with the size of business. With 

 any particular type of farming, the size of business corresponds approxi- 

 mately with the area. By grouping farms according to capital invested or 

 acres farmed, we find that the labor income increases, step by step, with 

 each group as size is increased. This view is confined to comparison of 

 small and moderate size farms. The exceedingly large farms are so small 

 in number that but few have been investigated in these farm surveys. 

 The few that have been investigated show conclusively that while farms of 

 from 500 to 1000 acres may bring large labor incomes, they also offer 

 opportunity for failure. The following table shows the labor income of 

 farms in several farming districts as related to size of farms: 



The Family Size. — The typical American farm is, and probably always 

 will be, the family size. It should be sufficiently large to employ advan- 

 tageously the time of the farmer and his family. It will vary with the type 

 of farming and the size of the family. The farmer with only one son should 

 have sufficient land to employ the time of the son when not in school. 

 If he has several sons his farm should be somewhat larger. Statistics show 



