830 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



Advantages of Buying and Selling. — Large farms, using larger quanti- 

 ties of supplies in the form of fertilizers and feed may often purchase at 

 wholesale to good advantage. The manager can also afford to spend 

 more time in investigating markets and market conditions, because of his 

 larger business. There is also a gain when products can be shipped in 

 carload lots. Not only may the price received be better, but there is a 

 saving on transportation charges. One may be justified in some expendi- 

 ture for advertising where the product is sufficiently large, for it generally 

 costs no more to advertise large quantities of produce than small quantities. 



Size of Fields. — Good size farms enable laying the farm out into fields 

 of an economical size. Large fields are cultivated with, less loss of time than 

 small ones. They require less expense per acre in fencing. Less waste 

 land is incurred about borders and for turning rows. Cost accounting has 

 shown that it costs more to produce crops on very small fields than it does 

 on good size fields. 



Size Related to Capital. — All farms necessarily have some capital 

 invested in unproductive ways. This is always relatively larger on small 

 farms than on large farms. The chief item in this respect is generally the 

 house and the ornamental features of the farm. In Livingston County, 

 N. Y., the capital invested in the farmhouses ranged from nine per cent of 

 the total investment on the large farms to 43 per cent on the small ones. 

 The value of other buildings per animal unit ranged from $50 on large 

 farms to $164 on small farms. Capital is more fully utilized on good 

 size farms. 



Size Related to Dairying. — The best size for a dairy farm will depend 

 on location and the type of dairying. In Denmark, the most progressive 

 dairy country in the world, dairy farms average 40 acres in size. The 

 dairymen in Scotland favor a farm that will maintain a herd that can be 

 milked by the dairyman and his family. In the United States dairy farms 

 should generally range from 75 to 150 acres in extent. Grain and general 

 farms should range from 120 to 300 acres in extent. A limited number in 

 each of these cases, under favorable conditions, may be somewhat smaller. 



Dairying will frequently prove advantageous for men located close 

 to good markets and whose farms are too small for general farming. Dairy- 

 ing will enable them to increase the volume of business and permit them to 

 remain in the same neighborhood without the purchase of more land. 



Size of Farms in the United States. — The size of farms in the United 

 States has changed somewhat during the past sixty years. In 1850 the 

 average area per farm was 203 acres. It declined steadily until 1880, when 

 it was 134 acres. Since then change has been slight. In 1910 it was 138 

 acres, 75 acres of which was improved land and 46 acres of which was in the 

 principal crops. The smaller farms were found in the trucking regions and 

 in the cotton belt. In Dallas County, Ala., farms average 44 acres. They 

 are generally farmed by colored people. In Gloucester County, N. J., 

 farms average 62 acres. Truck is the leading industry. Farms in an 



