FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CIIKSTHR COUNTY, PA. 63 



The total expense per acre for these purposes is seen to be $5.81 on 

 the smallest farms and grows gradually less as the size of the farm 

 increases, and on the largest farms it is only $4.31. 



This matter of the relation of the size of the farm to the ease of 

 making a satisfactory profit has been dwelt upon at considerable 

 length in these pages because of the notion which so widely prevails 

 that the ideal in American agriculture is the small farm. Numerous 

 real-estate promotion schemes all over the country are based on this 

 idea. It is a distinct fallacy. Very small farms are difficult to make 

 successful anywhere, under American conditions, and 'it is only the 

 exceptional man who is equal to the task. The) 7 must always be 

 devoted to the most intensive types of farming, and the products of 

 most kinds of intensive farming fluctuate enormously in volume and 

 price, so that the business is very insecure. The danger is greatly 

 magnified if these small farms are situated a long distance from 

 market, for prices of their products do not have to fall very far until 

 the transportation charges wipe out all profits. Even in the vicinity 

 of the best markets these small farms succeed only in localities where 

 they have distinct advantages for the particular type of farming 

 which they follow. 



RELATION OF THE NUMBER OF DAYS WORK PER YEAR TO LABOR INCOME. 



In Table XXIX the 378 owner farms are divided into groups based 

 on the number of man work units (or productive days' work) per 

 farm. One hundred and seventeen of these farms had less than 300 

 man days' work, with an average of 211. These same farmers had an 

 average of 111 horse days' work. This includes only the productive 

 labor of the farm; that is, labor applied directly to a: productive 

 enterprise. 



Table XXIX. — Relation of the number of productive days' toork per farm to 

 labor income, Chester County owners. 



Man work units per farm. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Man 



work 



units per 



farm. 



Horse 



work 



units per 



farm. 



Average 

 size of 

 farm. 



Labor 

 income. 



Adjusted 

 income. 



300 and less 



117 

 129 

 89 

 43 



211 

 395 



588 

 878 



Ill 

 198 



278 

 378 



Acres. 

 49 

 88 

 116 

 151 



S336 



703 



1,083 



1,668 



Per cent. 

 78 



301 to 500 



94 



501 to 700 



112 



701 and over 



152 









378 



439 



211 



90 7S9 



100 











The average labor income on this group of farms is $336, or, fig- 

 ured in percentage, as explained -on a previous page, 78 per cent of 

 the average of all the farms. The table shows that as the number 

 of productive work units increases the labor income increases very 

 markedly. Forty -three of these farms had over 700 productive man 



