Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1914 — Highly Profitable Farms. [ARTICLE]

Highly Profitable Farms.

Farm management surveys are now being conducted in a good many localities in this country. In nearly all of them it has been found that from 2 to 5 per cent of the farmers are making very handsome incomes. A study of these highly profitable farms with a view to finding wherein they differ from ordinary farms brings out some very interesting relations. The farms may be divided into three classes. One class consists of highly specialized farms, where the farming is not only of the most 'intensive character but is of large magnitude. Highly successful farms o. this class are found only in those ■localities tiiat i : nc*ce;-s distinct al- - jti the matter of markets I'." perishable farm products or very distinct advantages in the matter of soil and climate. Another class consists of farms producing products of exceptional quality. They are mainly farms on which very high-priced live stock are produced. These farms are scattered more or jjess throughout the country and are not numerous anywhere. There is, in fact, not room for a large number of such farms in any section. Ihe third class consists of farms that are organized on the basis of standard field crops and the ordinary types of live-stock farming, but which are both very large and very well managed, it is this latter class of farms which appears most commonlj in the middle west, where there is not room for very many highly specialized farm*. In New England fruit and truck farms, as well as farms devoted to the production of the highest class of breeding stock, stand out very prominently amongst the highly profitable farms.

While the highly specialized farm represents the possibility of great profit, it frequently also represents the possibility of heavy losses on account of the tremendous fluctuation in production, and consequently in prices, of the products of intensive farming. r n the greater portion of the country the great mass of farmers must gain their livelihood from the ordinary field crops and the common types of live stock. The surveys clearly demonstrate the fact that in general farming the size of the farm is a very important factor. The farm should be large enough to give the working force available to the farmer a maximum of productive labor throughout the year. ’ 1