10 BULLETIN 425, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In this table the farms are classified on the basis of tillable area. 
In a region like this, having a very large percentage of unimproved 
land, it is better to measure size of business in tillable area than in 
total area. Family income, family labor income, farm income, and 
labor income are also shown in the table. These incomes increase 
in direct ratio to the increase in tillable area. The 50 farms in the 
first group with an average tillable area of 15.5 acres have an average 
labor income of minus SI 18 and an average family income of $213. 
These incomes constantly increase with each group until in the last, 
with an average tillable area of 179.5 acres, the average labor income 
is $495 and the average family income $1,586. 
The average amount of capital invested in the first group is $3,593 
and in the last group $17,872. The average total investment for 
the 801 farms is $6,856. As compared with some areas studied in 
other parts of the country, the average incomes are not large, but it 
must be remembered that the average investment is small. These 
figures show what is being done with small capital and small clear- 
ings, and indicate what may be done with more capital and with 
larger acreage under cultivation. 
SIZE OF FARM. 
All these groups, except possibly the last, contain enough farms 
to warrant the drawing of definite conclusions as to the relation 
existing between income and size of business as measured by tillable 
area. The "little farm well tilled'' may succeed, and frequently 
does succeed in this area, but the prospects are brighter for the 
larger farm if that larger farm has sufficient area under cultivation. 
Among the records there are those of quite a number of farms having 
satisfactory labor incomes on less than 40 acres of cleared land, but 
these farms have rich soil, exceptionally good livestock, and, as a 
rule, a considerable acreage of woods pasture. A family engaged in 
general farming may make a fair living on a farm with 40 acres 
under cultivation and should be able to make money with 80 to 
160 acres under cultivation. The rapid enlargement of the culti- 
vated area on each farm, when it can be done economically, is the 
first and most important agricultural problem hi this district and 
the one that has the widest and most general application. 
How large the farm should be in this region will depend much on 
the farmer's resources. The average farm in the third group with 
50.2 tillable acres produces a family income of $533. If the farm 
is free of debt, all of this money is available for the family living, 
but if family labor and interest are deducted, the farmer has only 
$ 1 7 left to pay him for his year's work. The next group of farms, 
with an average of 68.8 acres under cultivation, gives results only a 
little better. The following group, having a tillable area between 
