FARM MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF CHESTER COUNTY, PA. 19 
Miscellaneous crops.—The special and miscellaneous crops referred 
to in Table III were as follows: Corn for soiling, 36 farms, with 
an average of about 1 acre each; sweet corn, 9 farms, with 1.2 acres 
per farm; millet, an average of 3 acres on each of 35 farms; oat 
hay, 22 farms, with an average of 3.25 acres; alfalfa, 18 farms, with 
an average of 4.8 acres each, a total of 78.75 acres of this crop. 
Since this survey was made the area of alfalfa has increased con- 
siderably in this locality. A small acreage of each of the following 
crops was found on from one to six farms each: Rye, peas and oats, 
millet and rye, oats and rye, peas, barley, kafir corn and peas, and 
wheat, all for hay; for grain, rye, barley, and a mixture of oats and 
spelt; for seed, timothy, clover; tobacco, 5 acres on one farm; for 
soiling, rye, oats, peas and oats; for forage, beets on six farms and 
turnips on one farm; one-half acre of broom corn on one farm. 
In a locality where there is much difference in type of farming on 
different farms, it is usual for the smaller farms to be devoted to the 
more intensive types of farming, though intensive enterprises may 
also occur on farms of any size. By an intensive enterprise is meant 
one which requires a relatively large amount of labor and capital 
for its conduct. Vegetable growing, fruit culture, and the hothouse 
business are intensive enterprises. Poultry farming is an intensive 
type of live-stock farming. Dairying is relatively intensive com- 
pared with sheep and beef-cattle farming. It may assume quite an 
intensive form, as when a large herd is maintained on a relatively 
small farm. 
Aside from the hothouse business, which was found on 27 farms in 
this survey, there is relatively little intensive crop farming in this 
area. The reasons for this will be given later. On the remaining 
farms there is not much difference in type of farming on farms of 
different size. This is largely due to the predominance of dairying; 
the few farms having no dairy cows do not affect materially the 
averages of the various size groups. 
The percentage area of the various crops on farms of different 
size is shown in Table IV for the 378 owner farms. The total per- 
centage of corn acreage is about the same in each of the groups. 
The proportion of corn cut for silage increases noticeably on the 
larger farms, but this is due to the larger number of cows on these 
farms, not to any difference in type of farming. 
The percentage of potato acreage is smallerson the large farms than 
on the small ones, but the actual acreage of this crop is larger on the > 
large farms. The acreage of potatoes does not increase in the same 
ratio as the size of farm. The percentage of wheat acreage is re- 
markably uniform in the various size groups. This merely shows 
how firmly this crop is established in the local agriculture. It fur- 
nishes the needed straw for bedding, and acts as a nurse crop for the 
