nt and then the profits will decrease. The following table
illustrates 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 assumed 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 assumed that
the net profit would decrease $1 for each 80 acres added, while in
case B the decrease is assumed 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 circumstances. 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 fr