New York Ohio Wisconsin Virginia Maize 3 13 9 11 Wheat 2 12 3 6 Oats 5 4 14 1 Barley, rye or buckwheat 2 -- 5 0 Hay and forage 23 11 14 4 Potatoes, beans or other vegetables 3 1 2 1 Fruits 2 2 0 1 Miscellaneous crops 2 1 0 2 Pasture, wood or unimproved land 58 45 70 93 --- -- --- --- Total size of farm 100 89 117 119 (7) Much depends upon natural forces. While there is opportunity for the use of knowledge and judgment in the production of high-grade seeds and even of large yields, there is not the same scope for skill that there is in some other lines of agricultural enterprise. Skill means the capacity to do something difficult, and the more effort required to produce an object the more value it has, provided its utility is unlimited. The farming which requires the most skill pays the best if one has the skill to apply to it. This is because those who do not have the requisite skill are usually unsuccessful. CHAPTER XIII THE COST OF FARMING OPERATIONS Several millions of the inhabitants of the United States, not to mention those of other countries, are engaged each year in the preparation of the soil for the cereal and forage crops and on the work of seeding and harvesting them. The welfare of one-third the population is directly and that of the other two-thirds, although less directly, is quite as surely dependent upon the effectiveness of this effort. If, for example, as sometimes happens, one-third the population receives on account of untoward seasonal conditions but four-fifths of the usual product, everyone must suffer on account of this unrewarded labor. Many, perhaps most, financial panics have their origin in crop failures aided, doubtless, by an improper financial system.