There is no question as to the general advantage of small farms in making farm homes. It is a question whether the general improvements in agriculture, except in machinery and its use, have not come from the diligent ingenuity of the small farmer in making most of his own acres. Ben Franklin said, "The best manure for the farm is the foot of its owner." The interested constancy among small farmers certainly develops both character and ability in any country. This fact has probably been one reason for the small farms of large parts of Europe. One-third of France is cultivated by owners of farms averaging 7-½ acres. Four-fifths of Bavaria, Belgium and Switzerland are in farms of less than twelve acres. Even Prussia has 900,000 farms of less than four acres. These farms vary in quality from poorest to richest, and peasant farmers are not able to boast of their wealth. Yet some of the most fertile regions are made so and kept so by the labor employed upon the small farm. Some of them also involve large capital. The Isle of Jersey, where land is worth $1,000 an acre, is so divided that an average farm is eight acres. Of course, but little labor-saving machinery reaches these places. Tillage with the spade costs five times as much as tillage by plough; yet the small farmer finds such advantage from its use as to call it gold mining. It is probable that the strong competition of immense farms in grain raising, possibly also in sugar raising from either cane or beets, and in seed raising, will awaken among the smaller farmers attention to finer grades of farming and more care for the fertility of their fewer acres.
On the whole, the tendency with increasing population is toward smaller farms with more intensive farming. Whether our country, with its stronger commercial energy, will follow this tendency as exhibited in northern Europe seems doubtful. It is not likely that we shall ever admit the legal restrictions under which division and subdivision have made their way in that region. The question will doubtless be settled by economic conditions independent of legislation. At present we are far from either extreme, as can be seen by reference to Chart No. I, p. 9.
_Department stores._--Increasing application of the principles of aggregation is seen in the so-called department stores, which not only deal in everything but with everybody, extending their trade by mail over large territory. The very evident economy of such aggregation of capital for purposes of exchange appeals so directly to the customers as to make the sufferers in competition cry out in vain for restrictions. Such stores seem sure to maintain their advantage in exchange, except with reference to mere local distribution of every-day necessities and expert handling of specialties. The community does well to give attention not so much to restrictions upon this trade as to reduction of opportunity for abuse of power over the mass of employés under control. The great establishment will certainly bring more satisfactory conditions in time than the multitude of small ones beyond the reach of public inspection.