28 Nebraska Experiment Station Research Bui. 15 
better than an acre of corn. If it were not for the fact that an 
acreage of one group of annuals sometimes of necessity carries 
with it a certain acreage of another group, this line of reason- 
ing could, without much modification, be applied to all type 
boundary lines. For example, it would be only approximately 
correct to state that in changing from a corn and oat region 
to a corn and wheat region the boundary line between the two 
marked the point at which the profits from an acre of winter 
wheat began to exceed those from an acre of oats. It would 
be more nearly correct to say that the boundary line marked 
the point at which the profits from a given acreage of corn 
and wheat began to exceed the profits from a given acreage of 
corn and oats. 
SIZE OF FARM IN RELATION TO RAINFALL AND OTHER 
FACTORS IN THE GREAT PLAINS 
DEFINITION OF THE TERM FARM 
A farm, generally speaking, is the area of land from 
which a family derives a living thru such operations as culti- 
vating crops, cutting wild hay, pasturing native grasses, and 
feeding live stock. Broadly construed, this definition makes 
it possible for a single farm to include owned land, leased 
land, and “free range.” If the area of free range were to be 
excluded, the use of the term farm in this bulletin would be 
similar to its use in the Thirteenth Census. 
Two extracts from the instructions for the general agri- 
cultural schedule (1910) will serve to illustrate the census use 
of the word farm. 
Farm. A “farm,” for census purposes — that is, for 
which a general farm schedule should be obtained — is 
all the land which is directly farmed by a single person, ft 
managing and conducting agricultural operations, either a f 
by his own labor alone or with the assistance of members 
of his household or of hired employees. The term “agri- 
cultural operations” is here used as a general term re- 
ferring to the work of growing crops, producing other 
agricultural products, and raising animals, fowls, and 
bees. A farm as thus defined may consist of a single 
tract of land or a number of separate and distinct tracts *l 
