beyond the reach of the small farmer. The independent artisan cannot think of installing expensive machinery in his little workshop; he has no money to pay for it, nor could he turn such machinery to good account even if he could buy it. In like manner, the peasant cannot buy a steam plough, for, if he had the money, a steam plough would be of no use to him. A great machine like this, for its profitable utilisation, needs a large area of land; it is valueless on a patch where there is hardly room for a fowl-run.
The efficient utilisation of machinery and tools depends on the area of land under cultivation. For the full utilisation of a horse plough we need 30 hectares of land; for that of a set comprising driller, harvester, and thresher, about 70 hectares; for a steam thresher, about 250 hectares; for a steam plough, about 1000 hectares. Recently, machines driven by electric power have been used in agriculture; for these, also, large-scale farming is indispensable.
As a rule, only for farming on the large scale is it practicable to undertake irrigation, to drain swamps, to provide field drainage (the laying of earthenware pipes in the fields to carry off superfluous water), to build light railways, and soon. In agriculture, just as in manufacturing industry, where work is done on a large scale we save upon tools and machinery, materials, labour power, fuel, lighting, etc.
In large-scale farming, there will be per desyatina less waste space between the fields, fewer hedges, ditches, and fences; less seed will be lost in these waste areas.
Furthermore, the owner of a large farm finds it worth while to engage expert agriculturists, and he can work his land by thoroughly scientific methods.
In matters of trade and credit, what applies to industry, applies also to agriculture. The large-scale farmer is better acquainted with the market,