STUDY OF SMALL, FAEMS NEAR WASHINGTON. 7 



The prospective farmer should study this table carefully. If the 

 farm he has in view falls in the smallest size-group, for example, he 

 need not assume that he can not do better than the average did, as in- 

 dicated in Table II, since many of these farmers made much more 

 than the average (see fig. 3). He must bear in mind at the same 

 time that it will require the best management and a considerable 

 knowledge of farm practice and markets, and that most of the farm 

 work will have to be done by himself and his family, if he is to 

 succeed on one of these very small farms. 



FARM RECEIPTS. 



Table III. — Distribution of farm receipts on 152 small farms near 

 Washington, D. C. 





Tillable area. 



Source of income. 



10 acres 



and 

 under. 



11 to 20 



acres. 



21 to 30 



acres. 



Over 

 30 acres. 





Per cent. 

 70. '0 

 12.0 

 2.2 

 .1 

 4.9 

 .1 

 10.7 



Per cent. 



83.8 



7.6 



.6 



.2 



3.5 



.3 



4.0 



Per cent. 

 80.3 

 9.5 



Per cent. 



72 7 





12 



Flowers 







1.7 



2.0 



.8 



5.7 



2 9 



Poultry 



3 9 



All other stock 



2 



Miscellaneous ' 



6 5 







Table III shows the distribution of farm receipts. Over 80 per 

 cent of the receipts are from vegetables and fruits. *The live-stock 

 receipts outside of poultry are practically negligible. This table 

 indicates clearly the type of farming followed by these farmers. 

 The comparative importance of miscellaneous receipts for the group 

 of very small farms is due mainly to income from outside sources. 

 Some of the men on these farms do team work, a few work at trades, 

 and still others do ordinary day labor when their farm work is not 

 rushing, though a small proportion of the year is spent at outside 

 work. This additional income is often necessary on very small farms, 

 as the farm receipts are not enough to furnish a living for the 

 family. All farms with outside receipts that exceeded the farm 

 receipts were excluded from consideration in this study. The smaller 

 farms also sell the most flowers and small fruits, thus increasing 

 their business by more intensive production. The farmer with lim- 

 ited acreage must make up for lack of land by raising crops which 

 yield a high return per acre. These crops usually require so much 

 hand labor that the farmer who works many acres will not compete 

 in raising them. 



FARM EXPENSES. 



In Table IV is shown the relative importance of the different items 

 of expenditure. It will be seen that in the group of very small farms 

 there is a relatively high expense for family labor, which must be 



