SIZE AND DIVERSITY OF FARM 831 



irrigated district in Utah average 82 acres per farm. McHenry County* 

 111., in which daiiying predominates, averages 129 acres per farm. In 

 Shelby County, Iowa, farms devoted chiefly to grain, hogs and cattle, 

 average 167 acres per farm. In Clay County, Neb., farms devoted largely 

 to grain production average 182 acres. In Sherman County, Ore., farms 

 devoted largely to the production of wheat average 799 acres. This gives 

 some idea of the wide range in the size of farms in different localities. 



Size Helps Prevent the Boys Leaving Farms. — Boys generally leave 

 the farm because there is not sufficient work to make it pay to stay. 

 Surveys in New York State show that 79 per cent of the sons of the 

 smallest farmers had left home. On the largest farms only 16 per cent 

 had left home. 



Small Farms. — Small farms have the advantage in a better supervision 

 of the farm work, less loss from waste of material and less difficulty with 

 the labor problem from the standpoint of hired help. The chief disadvan- 

 tage in the small farm lies in the lack of adequate equipment, which results 

 in high cost of production and a small labor income. The many advantages 

 that have been cited in favor of good size farms seldom apply to the very 

 small farm. 



A great deal has been written advocating the small farm, and so far 

 as area is concerned, there is room in the vicinity of large cities for a con- 

 siderable number of comparatively small farms. These must necessarily 

 be devoted to intensive farming along the line of vegetables and fruits for 

 human consumption. Any attempt to grow the staple crops on very small 

 areas results in marked increase in cost of production or materially reduces 

 the standard of farm life. In Belgium and other European countries com- 

 paratively little animal power is used in farming. Much of the work is 

 done by hand. The areas are often so small that if a team of horses was 

 employed, they would consume more than one-half of the products of the 

 farm, thus leaving comparatively little for the farmer. 



REFERENCES 



New York Expt. Station Bulletin 178. "The Income of 178 New York Farms." 



U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Year-Book 1908, pages 311-320. "The Small Farm as a 



Remedy for Southern Rural Conditions." 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Circular 75. 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 259. 

 Farmers' Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture : 



310. "A Successful Alabama Diversification Farm." 



312. "A Successful Southern Hay Farm." 



325. "Small Farms in the Corn Belt." 



355. "A Successful Southern Dairy Farm." 



364. "A Profitable Cotton Farm." 



365. "Farm Management in Northern Potato Growing Sections." 



