Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-07-11
Economy of the Small Farm.
SOME KINDS OF WORK DONE BETTEE
THAN ON A LARGE ONE.

There seems to be more or less wide
spread idea that the conditions at pres
ent are such that the small farm canno,
be made a success in comparison will
the larger acreage. While modern ma
ohinery and modern methods OF tilling
the land have made it comparatively
easy to work the large farm, the idea
that a large acreage is necessity Is
grave error 1t may be true that the
large place has an advantage over the
small in the growing of grain and similar
crops, but there can be no such thing as
competition between the two. Each has
it's place in the economy of farm work
and business, and each may DO made
profit paying when rightly managed.
Under ordinary conditions | believe
the small farm.can be made the best pay
ing property if managed in systematic,
businesslike manner.
Given q superficial examination, 1t
may seem that the cost of tillage is less
AN acre ON the large place, but this diff
ference is more apparent than real.
While il costs less an hour or an acre to
work the land with four horses than
with two, as one driver handles either
team and the work done is twice as
much, the extra cost OF equipment and
the keeping of the team during days
often weeks, of idlensss, more than Oh
sets the seeming gain.
Again, the larger farm requires more
men, and hired help is not always re-
liable help. 1t is az true on the farm as
elsewhere that the eye of the master
will do more work than his hands, and
the small farmer can have all his work
under his own eyes. On the small farm
the owner usually does much of the work
and all Of the management. He is, there
fore entitled to pay as both manager
and laborer. That he does not always
get his just dues is not 80 much his fault
as it is the fault OF economic conditions
beyond his control; possibly beyond the
control of any other man. Still, l be-
lieve it true that he gets as much as the
average man in other callings, and de-
cidedly more, as a rule, than the man
who is trying to run large farm on the
same amount of capital. The larger the
farm the larger should be the capital, to
make the business an assured success.
The size of the farm should have
much to do in deciding the kind of farm
ing to follow. 1t is not wise to do mar
ket gardening or small fruit growing on
a large farm to the neglect of much of
the land. Neither is it wise to try ex-
tensive farming on place too small for
that kind of work. Adapting the busi-
ness to the size of the farm will often
give a decided advantage to the smaller
acreage.
Intensive farming pays better than ex-
tensive farming. In fact, We have come
to the point where extensive farming
pays only as it follows intensive meth
DDS. Swimming the land for what little
cream may happen to rise as the result
Of natures unaided efforts is no longer a
paying work.
Whether large or small, the paying
farm is to be more and more the studi-
nusly, intelligently, mind managed one.
On the small farm there is always time
and room for a good garden; the large
farm often lacks this, principally be-
cause it cannot be machine worked.
There are some kinds Of farming that
will probably always be done mostly by
hand. This kind will not become so
popular that it will be much overdone
for any great length of time.
The small farm is well adapted to this
kind of work. The orchard will always
call for much hand labor, and while or
chard tools and machines have their
place the real profit will depend on do
ing that work as it should be done.
Planting, pruning, picking, packing,
etc., makes the labor human, and the
five-acre orchard often pays more net
profit than the larger one, where hired
labor has to be depended on.
The poultry business is another one OF
the things that will have to be managed
largely by man power, and is, therefore,
we'll adapted to the small farm. Let me
saw here that the man who intends to
engage largely in poultry keeping does
not need and should not have large
should place the limit of
size at forty acres. Less might be bet
ter; more would be disadvantage.
Even the cows often give larger net
profit in a one-man dairy than in larger
one. These are forms of work we'll
adapted TO the small farm. 1t need not
follow that man is small farmer be-
cause he works small farm. The man
who mows fifty acres to cut forty tons
of hay is by all odds smaller farmer
than his neighbor who cuts forty tons
from twenty acres.
We have measured success too much
by acres and animals. 1t is high time
we began to measure by the per acre
yield of our farms. This is the true
standard of success with the land. Not
how much per COW, but how much per
acre.
l recognize the advantages of farm
machinery, and believe it possible to so
manage the small farms of the east that
the machine can be proftably used,
either through Individual ownership or
cooperation. Yet there
are many lines of work calling for much
hand labor, and the small farm is the
place for these things, more especially
as the profit is likely to be sure.
With limited capital, as most farm
ers have, the small farm intensively
worked is better property than the