Large and Small Farms in Prussia. 



47 



farmers willing and able to give the desired information. In all, 

 the requisite data, consisting principally of a detailed account for 

 the financial year 1896-97 of the income and expenditure, 

 number of labourers employed, wages paid, area and yield of 

 each crop grown, number and kind of live stock kept, together 

 with the returns from the same, were obtained from 63 farms, of 

 which Stumpfe describes 22 as " large," 24 as " medium-sized," 

 and 17 as " small."* 



As the object of the inquiry was a comparison, from an 

 economic aspect, of various-sized farms, it was necessary to 

 ensure, as far as possible, that the only difference in a series of 

 farms which were being compared with each other was in their 

 size. Great care has been taken to exclude all doubtful cases, 

 and comparison has only been made in the case of farms reported 

 by the same enumerator — as some of the desired factors were not 

 included in the farm accounts and had therefore to be estimated 

 by the enumerator — to be on land of a similar character, in an 

 equally high state of cultivation, situate in the same district, and 

 on which the same system of farming is adopted, &c, &c. ; in 

 fact, of a series of farms under comparison, size is, as far as 

 practicable, the one variable factor. 



For the sake of uniformity the author has considered it desir- 

 able to slightly alter several of the data obtained from the 

 farmers. The charges made on farms of approximately equal 

 size by the farmers themselves for their own work and that of their 

 families vary enormously ; but the Chamber has estimated these 

 services at the salaries of sufficient, but not more than sufficient, 

 persons qualified to do the work. Thus the farmer's services 

 are valued at the salary of an intelligent working man, farm- 

 manager, or bailiff, according to the requirements of the farm ; 

 similarly, in the case of three daughters at home, all helping 

 slightly with the work, the farm is not necessarily charged with 

 the value of the services of three able-bodied women, but pro- 

 bably with the salary of only one such suitable person. 



* Roughly speaking, ''small" farms comprise those under 25 acres medium- 

 sized " those between 25 and 250 ; and " large '' those above 250 acres. In addition 

 to the extent, however, the value of the holding per unit of area, the intensity of the 

 farming adopted, and relative amount of labour employed, have been taken as guides 

 in determining to which of the three classes the various farms were to be assigned. 



