The Young Farmer: Some Things He Should Know Part 3

"In 1800 the United States nowhere crossed the Mississippi and nowhere touched the Gulf of Mexico." In 1850 the country west of the Mississippi River was agriculturally largely an undiscovered region.

Since 1870 we have much more than doubled our population and our agriculture. Since that time we have subdued more of the open country to the uses of man than we had been able to do in 250 years of our previous history.

During the past 300 years we have prided ourselves upon being an agricultural people. We have been an agricultural people, but our problems have not been chiefly those of the agriculturist, but those of the engineer.

Our problem, in the past, has not been to make two blades of gra.s.s to grow where but one grew before. Our problem has been to harvest and transport two bushels of wheat or two bales of cotton with the labor previously required to harvest one. Our crops have been so abundant that the agricultural problems connected with the growing of them has been secondary to the engineering problems of their harvesting and transportation. The self-binder and the steam locomotive have been our achievements.

If the writer mistakes not, the future problem will not be so much the harvesting and transporting, as the growth of the crops. In the future, young men will be needed who have studied the science of living things in order that they may make, literally, two blades of gra.s.s to grow where but one grew. To men who will be able to do so, will come success and honor.

CHAPTER V

WHERE TO LOCATE

Unless the young farmer expects to return to the ancestral home, the first question he must settle is where he is going to locate. Indeed, one of the most common questions asked is, What do you think of this state or that state or this region or that as a place to farm? There are few questions harder to answer. This is due, among other reasons, to the fact that every place has its advantages and disadvantages. The sum of the advantages may be greater in one place than in another, but if these advantages are known they must generally be paid for.

New adaptations, however, may change materially the value of the land in a given locality as, for example, the discovery that a region is especially adapted to raising alfalfa, onions, cabbages, apples or peaches. Changing conditions, as the growth of population or better transportation facilities, may materially affect the attractiveness of a region from the standpoint of the farmer.

The compet.i.tion of other regions which grow similar crops is a potent factor in determining the desirability of a region. For example, the farmers east of the Allegheny mountains during the nineteenth century competed with the farmers of the central West who had free, fertile, easily tilled land on which to grow maize, wheat and oats. Cattle and sheep were pastured on the open range. The twentieth century has found the land of this region settled and capitalized in some instances beyond that of the eastern states; thus one factor at least of compet.i.tion has been eliminated.

While farm values readjust themselves in time, it often happens, especially in the older settled regions, that farm values are slow in reflecting these changes in economic conditions. Changed conditions often call for a change in farm methods which the habits and traditions of even one generation prevent. To the man who is able to apply the proper methods the region may be a desirable one, although under existing conditions the results may be unsatisfactory. The young man, however, is cautioned at this point not to be overconfident of his own ability. Under such circ.u.mstances it is well to study the problem with great care, because the methods which seem unwise to the casual observer may, after all, be found to be based upon sound economic principles.

A man of 25 who is looking for a location should not only study the present conditions of the locality, but try to predict what is likely to be the future of the region during the next third of a century, since this is the period in which he may reasonably expect to be personally interested, although later in life he will find himself quite as much interested in the more distant future on account of his children.

Nothing is more self-evident than that one should choose a region, especially as regards soil and climate, which is adapted to the crop or crops to be raised, yet there are probably more failures due to a lack of crop adaptation than to any other cause that is not personal to the man himself. Not only do apples, for their best success, require certain soil types, but different varieties of apples require for their best development, distinctly different types of soil as, for example, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, York Imperial and Grime's Golden. Each reaches its best development on different types of soil and some require different climatic conditions. In like manner apples and peaches require distinctly different types of soil for the best success of each and for this reason peaches are not desirable as fillers in apple orchards.

If at the proper season of the year one goes from Pittsburg to Chicago via Columbus and Indianapolis, he will see great fields of winter wheat and a considerable number of permanent pastures. From Chicago to Omaha he will see only occasionally a field of wheat and scarcely any permanent pasture. Oats have taken the place of wheat. In parts of Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma the predominant crop is winter wheat.

Throughout the whole region from Pittsburg to Topeka, Kansas, the characteristic crop is maize or Indian corn. Between St. Paul and Fargo, the main crops are spring wheat and oats. One may travel from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Calgary, Alberta, a distance of over one thousand miles without seeing a field of maize. In some portions the main crop is wheat, in others it is oats.

These are ill.u.s.trations of the crop adaptation over large areas, which has come about unconsciously, as has most crop adaptation. In other parts of the United States are to be found even more striking examples of crop adaptation, although the areas are much smaller, as in the case of tobacco, potatoes, celery, onions, apples, peaches and other fruits. Regions containing residual soils are more variable in crop adaptation than drift soils and require more careful watchfulness on the part of those who may wish to buy land.

As previously stated, advantages, if known, must usually be paid for.

It comes about, therefore, that if a region or a farm is adapted to the raising of a certain crop which is more profitable than the average, such as maize, tobacco, alfalfa, celery, apples or peaches, this land will, other things being equal, command a higher price than land which does not possess this characteristic.

There is an underlying economic principle which the man who goes out to choose a farm should clearly understand. The principle has been stated by Fairchild as follows: "The normal value of products capable of indefinite multiplication tends always toward the value of least costly. On the other hand, if any production cannot be largely extended, so that the supply barely meets the requirements of the purchasers, the tendency of normal values is toward the cost of the most costly part of the product required to meet wants."

This principle explains why land especially adapted to raising maize is higher priced than land primarily adapted to raising wheat. Maize which enters into commerce is raised almost exclusively in ten states of the United States. Wheat is harvested practically every month of every year in different parts of the world. The young farmer should consider, therefore, whether he is undertaking to raise crops in which there is unlimited compet.i.tion, or whether soil or other conditions cause the output to be relatively limited.

CHAPTER VI

SIZE OF FARM

The size of the farm is another of those questions on which there is endless debate and to which no general answer can be given. There are, however, certain rather definite principles which may help in settling an individual problem.

The size of the farm is related to the income per acre. If one's ideal or purpose is a gross income of $1,000 or $3,000 or $5,000 a year, he must consider how large a farm will be necessary to bring this return.

a.s.sume, for the sake of discussion, it is desired to obtain a gross income of $4,000. In the eastern United States 200 acres of tillable land devoted to general farming may bring this amount. If the land is especially adapted to potatoes, and this crop takes a prominent place in the rotation, 100 acres might be sufficient to return the income named. Likewise a 100-acre retail milk dairy farm may produce a similar result. Forty acres devoted to truck farming or market gardening may be sufficient.

There is another way that the size of the farm needed may be estimated. There is a general relation between the gross income and the amount invested. In 1900 the gross income of the farms of the United States was 18 per cent of the total investment, which includes land, buildings, tools, and live stock. The average gross income varied for the different types of farming common to the northern United States from 16 to 19 per cent. This represents, of course, a great deal of very poor farming. The income of prosperous farmers must be somewhat better than this. If we a.s.sume that by careful methods the gross income is 25% of the total investment, then an investment of $16,000 will be required to bring a gross income of $4,000. While it is true that the gross income has no necessary relation to net income or profit, yet it is well to remember that a gross income is a necessary antecedent of a net income. The net profit from the production of a bushel of wheat, a dozen of eggs, or a pound of b.u.t.ter is of comparatively small consequence unless a sufficient quant.i.ty is produced.

A recent investigation by the Cornell station appears to show that with the type of farming now existing in Tompkins and Livingston counties, New York, where the investigation chanced to be made, the larger farms yielded the most profitable returns and that while present conditions exist, the size of farms is likely to increase rather than decrease. The fundamental reason seems to be the subst.i.tution of horse-drawn machinery for hand labor.

The following table shows the labor income on 586 farms operated by the owners, cla.s.sified according to size:

Number Average of size Labor Acres farms (acres) income 30 or less 30 21 $168 31 to 60 108 49 254 61 to 100 214 83 373 101 to 150 143 124 436 151 to 200 57 177 635 over 200 34 261 946 ---- ---- Average 103 $415

While the larger the farm, the more prosperous was the operating owner or tenant, the size of the farm did not seem to affect the profit of the landlord.

The amount of land one individual may own is unlimited; the size of the farm unit is limited. After a farm unit has reached a certain size, depending upon the type of farming, the general arrangement of the farm and the skill in management, any further increase will increase the cost of operation, and as the increase continues eventually cause a decrease in profits. a.s.suming this to be true, it follows as a mathematical necessity that as the farm increases in size the total profits will increase as the farm increases up to a given point and then the profits will decrease. The following table ill.u.s.trates this law:

Size of A B farm Net profit Net profit Net Profit Net Profit acres per acre per farm per acre per farm 160 $5.00 $800 $5.00 $800 200 4.50 900 4.75 950 240 4.00 960 4.50 1,080 280 3.50 980 4.25 1,190 320 3.00 960 4.00 1,280 360 2.50 900 3.75 1,350 400 2.00 800 3.50 1,400 440 1.50 660 3.25 1,430 480 1.00 480 3.00 1,440 520 .50 260 2.75 1,430 560 -- -- 2.50 1,400

In both case A and case B it is a.s.sumed that the greatest net profit per acre is to be obtained with 160 acres, and that the net profit per acre when the farm is of that size is $5. In case A it is a.s.sumed that the net profit would decrease $1 for each 80 acres added, while in case B the decrease is a.s.sumed to be only one-half as rapid. In the first instance the net profit per farm increases until 280 acres are reached, when the net profit per farm decreases, until at 560 acres no profit would be obtained. In case B the net profit per farm increases until 480 acres are reached. Everyone is cautioned not to accept these figures as representing what would actually happen. All that can be said is that as the farm unit increases in size there will come a point at which the net profit per acre will decrease because of the physical difficulty of managing a large area, and, therefore, there is a limit to the size of a single farm. Fifteen thousand acres may lay in one tract and be owned by one individual, firm or corporation, but its economic management requires for purely physical reasons, not to mention others, that it be managed in several units more or less distinct from one another. Just what the size of this unit will be no one knows and it will vary with the type of farming, the type of farmer and many other circ.u.mstances. For example, a very common unit for a tenant cotton farm is between 20 and 50 acres, both the product and the farmer being a limiting factor.

Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from a study of this table is that it is wise for some men to operate a farm of 320 acres, others of 160 acres and still others of 80 acres, because each size of farm presents a task suited to different abilities. It would be as futile for one fitted to operate only an 80-acre farm to attempt to manage 320 acres as it would be unwise for the man capable of conducting 320 acres to confine his attention to 80 acres. Unfortunately while this principle is not difficult to perceive and is easily stated, it is practically impossible to make any application of it to an individual case. Only time and the inexorable laws of compet.i.tion will adjust men to their several tasks.

It will be of interest to note what influence in actual practice the type of farming has upon the size of the farm. The census reports the average size of all farms in the United States as 147 acres, with the different types as follows: Vegetables, 65 acres; fruits, 75 acres; dairy products, 120 acres; hay and grain, 159 acres; and live stock, 227 acres. Speaking in a very general way, only about one-half the land on these farms is in cultivated crops, while only 40% of the income may be from the products which cause the farm to be thus cla.s.sified. The young farmer will do well to have these figures in mind when he starts out in life, for while they are not to be followed literally, they give him a measuring stick with which to compare his operations.

CHAPTER VII

SELECTION OF FARM

Having some of these preliminary questions settled, or at least well in mind, the young farmer is ready to inspect individual farms with a view to purchasing or renting. He should examine each farm from four general aspects, namely: (1) The character and topography of the soil, (2) the climatic conditions, including healthfulness and water supply, (3) the location, and (4) the improvements.

It may be well at the outset to emphasize the advantage which even a small difference in fertility may bring. Suppose one farm is capable of raising fifteen bushels of wheat per acre and another twenty bushels. If wheat is 80 cents a bushel, then the gross income is $12 and $16 respectively. If it is a.s.sumed that it costs in either case for seed, labor and interest on investment $8 an acre to raise and harvest the crop, then it will be seen that an increase of five bushels an acre doubles the profit. The comparison is perhaps not quite fair, since it costs slightly more to harvest the larger crop, but it serves to ill.u.s.trate the point.

Neither the crop adaptation nor the crop-producing power of the soil can be determined by taking a sample and submitting it to a chemist for a.n.a.lysis. These factors can best be determined by the character of the vegetation, both domestic and wild, and by a knowledge obtained through observation or reading as to what this particular soil type usually does. Every type of soil has certain characteristics which under like conditions it may be expected to reproduce, much in the same manner as each species of animal reproduces its characteristics.

The first essential is to be able to recognize the different soil types. This can only be done by close observation and study. The second essential is to determine what the crop-producing characteristics of these types of soil are. This knowledge may be obtained by personal observation; but as most persons' opportunities are limited in this direction, it should be supplemented wherever possible by a study of the soil surveys of the United States Department of Agriculture wherever these are available. When this is not possible samples of soil may be submitted to the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture or to the soil division of the state experiment station, together with a suitable description and such knowledge of the history of the land as is obtainable. In this way you may obtain information as to the natural adaptation of the particular type of soil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Walter S. Tomlinson, Bryan, Ohio, began thirteen years ago with 225 acres, partly rented, to determine whether a farm could be made a satisfying enterprise. As tenant he has paid to himself as landlord $1,000 each year for rental and $500 each year as salary. The rest of the profits have been invested in 240 acres of additional land and in improvements. Mr. Tomlinson's specialty has been hogs, but he says it does not matter so much about the lines one adopts as the attention that is given them.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dr. W. I. Chamberlain, Hudson, Ohio, graduate of Western Reserve University, former state secretary of agriculture, later college president. Farmer and inst.i.tute lecturer and widely known for his editorial work on farm journals; has been able, amid his other activities, to manage his farm of 116 acres. The net cash income above all expenses from the farm for 1890 to 1907 was $113,966 or $1,370 per year. Of this income $8,877 were obtained from a ten-acre apple orchard.]

There will still remain the question of the present condition of the land. For example, the Pennsylvania station obtained in a certain season 42 loads of hay from nine acres of land. The same season, from exactly the same soil type, the station obtained eight loads of hay from 20 acres. The condition of the soil was different, which the previous history of the two tracts of land fully explains.

It is of the utmost importance, therefore, to distinguish between the natural fertility of the soil and the condition of the soil. A further example will help to ill.u.s.trate this point. At the Rothamsted Station a certain type of soil has for over 60 years produced annually about 12 bushels of wheat an acre without fertilizer, while with a complete fertilizer the same type has produced 30 or more bushels. The 12 bushels may be said to represent the natural fertility of the soil, while the additional 18 bushels may be said to represent the condition of the soil due to fertilizers or to other conditions. On the other hand, the natural condition of some other soil type might be only eight bushels, or still another type might be 16 bushels.