The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1910-11-11
ADVANTAGES OF A SMALL FARM


Recently man moved onto 40
acre farm beside another farmer who
owned and tended 100 acres. The
man with the 40-acre farm made dur
ing the past year something over 5000
more than his neighbor who farms
100 acres. Both of these men are
wide awake. good farmers, and are
In the farming business 'rr all they
can get out Of it, The man, however,
with the larger farm has more land
than he can tend we'll, and the man
with thesmaller farm has just enough
to cultivate and improve in the best
possible way.
Two other farmers have adjoining
farms of, respectively, 100 and SO
acres. They are brothers. and both
are called good farmers. Yet the
brother with only so acres makes
more clear money than the one with
a farm more than three times as
large.
Nor are these exceptions. could
cite dozens Of others on small farms
who are making better living with
less labor than their neighbors who
try to cultivate from two to four
times as much land. The fact is that
our farms, as rule, are much larg-
ct than we can cultivate and improve
In the best way. Forty or so acres
Is as large farm as one man can
tend we'll. and the time is soon COM
Ing when 40 acres will be counted
a. large farm for one man. Ten and
20-acre farms will be common within
a few years. and those farming them
will make more money and live bet
ter th&n the average farmer who now
cultivates 80 to 100 acres.
The new farming idea Is not to
farm more land, but to cultivate, fer
tilize and improve small tract of
land well. If man, for instance,
can grow 100 bushels of corn instead
of so bushels to the acre, he has only
cne-half the land to prepare and cul-
tivate, only one-half the seed, half
the fencing and half of the other ex-
penses of the upkeep of the farm.
Also. the doubling of the crop yield
means more than double the net prof
its. If the profits on corn yielding
SO bushels to the acre are $12, then
the profits on corn yielding 100 BUSH
els to the acre are $36, or three times
as much. Hence, it Is easy to see
that man running small farm
well can actually make more clear
money than a man who runs large
farm in common way.
A farmer not long ago, decided
that his holdings were entirely too
large. He was farming on a large
scale and employing a number OF
hands. He sold nearly half of his
Land, but retained all of his hired
help, much to the surprise of his
neighbors. They thought that when de
tsold a part Of his land he would let
a part or all Of his help go. But he
thought differently and acted differ
emily. This farmer was a good bust
| ness manager and had always made
money through the employment Of
lihired help. He knew what he could
lido with land and live stock, and he
tset about to make as much money
on the smaller farm as he did on the
larger farm. and he did. He fortified
the small farm more heavily, plow-
ed deeper and better, cultivated more
frequently and more thoroughly, used
better seed and implements, grew
more intensive crops, purchased and
bred better live stock, and erected
better fences and farm buildings.
Some men hold that 1t does not
pay to employ high-priced farm labor.
It all depends upon the man as a
manager, whether hired help will pay.
II the farmer himself can make
money at farming. then he can make
money out of hired labor IL he prop
erly directs that labor. Thousands
of men in other lines of business en-
ploy labor and make money from it..
In fact, they could not run their bus
mess without this nired help. For
the farmer who knows how to farm
there is as much profit in farming as
in other lines of business, hence the
good farmer can employ good labor
and make good profit on it, whether
his farm be large or small. If he
grows ordinary field crops he will
need less labor, but If he grows crops
requiring intensive cultivation he may
employ several hands the year round
even on small farm.
Possibilities of the Soil