PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS i 1. Size of farms, and total farming area. i 2. Influences acting upon the size of farms. § 3. Self-sufficing versus commercial farming. f 4. Farming viewed as a capitalistic enterprise. f 5. Diversified versus specialized farming. f 6. Conditions favoring diversified farm ing. f 7. Intensive farming in Europe and America. § 8. Prospect of more intensive cultivation of land in America. § 9. The new agricul ture. § 10. Difficulty of cooperation among farmers. § 11. Rapid growth of farmers' selling cooperation. II 12. Some economic features of farmers' selling cooperation. § 13. Cooperation in buying. § 14. Need of agricultural credit. 11 15. Provisions for farm loans. § 16. Need of an agricultural policy.
§ 1. Size of farms, and total farming area. The average area of farms 1 has varied from a maximum of 203 acres in 1850 (the first figures) to a minimum of 134 acres in 1880, being 138 acres in 1910. A better index, perhaps, is the average improved area per farm, which has been more nearly stationary, varying from a maximum of 80 acres in 1860 to a minimum of 71 acres in 1870 and 1880, being 75 acres in 1910. Here again the statistics require interpretation, for in the spread of the frontier the addition of large farms in the arid and semi-arid regions may raise the average, or the break ing up of large plantations in the South may decrease the average, without this indicating any essential change in the technical conditions of farming in the country generally.
1 A farm is defined for census purposes as "all the land which is di rectly farmed by one person, either by his own labor alone or with the assistance of members of his household, or hired employees. When a landowner has one or more tenants, renters, croppers, or managers, the land operated by each is considered a farm!' 457 Since about 1900 the total area in farms has increased very slowly. Between 1900 and 1910 the increase was only 4.8 per cent; whereas a larger increase occurred in the area of im proved land, 15.4 per cent, and the improved area in farms decreased 5.6. Future changes of farm areas may be expected to be of this same nature, mainly in the improvement of rough pastures, swamps, partly cleared woodlands, and desert lands awaiting irrigation. An increasing population will have to
Fig. 1, Chapter 27. Acreage of Corn.
Nora: Now king of all crops, in value equal to that of cotton and wheat combined. Generally cultivated in eastern half of country.
be provided with food and other products of agriculture on a farming area that henceforth will be increasing leas rapidly than it has in the past and than the population increases.
§ 2. Influences acting upon the she of farms. In these averages for the whole country many conflicting influences unite and neutralize one another. Making for smaller farms is the breaking up of large grazing areas in the West into smaller general-purpose farms or irrigated fruit districts, and of larger general farms in the North and East into small poul try, flower, and fruit farms. Opposed to this is a movement toward the merging of farms of 50 to 100 acres into larger farms of 300 acres, more or less. The economic cause of this movement is interesting and important. The typical and eco no;nic size of farms when the Atlantic states were settled was determined by the use of hand tools, which permitted a man and his family to operate a farm of about 75 acres, of which about half was tilled and the rest was in permanent pasture Fig. 2, Chapter 27.—Acreage of cotton.
NarE: Second in value among farm crops, but limited to a region less than a fourth of the whole country. Some production in the three states west of Texas is not shown on this map.
and woodland. The fields were small and were laid out irreg ularly, which was no disadvantage for hand cultivation. But for the most economic use of land in field drops and under more modern conditions it is necessary to have pretty level fields, of regular rectangular shape. The farm unit should be of such extent as to permit of the proper use of the soil by rotation of crops, and to employ fully the best modern labor saving machinery for each purpose. Numerous recent agri cultural surveys point to the conclusion that for general farm ing this unit is a comparatively large area of about 300 acres.