Sometimes a desired acreage is offered only as part of a larger tract. When surplus land is not expensive to buy or to keep up, it is usually better to buy it than to buy so small an acreage that the development of adjoining properties might impair the residential value of the farm.

If you have a year-round, full-time job you cann't expect to grow much more than your family uses -- unless other members of the family do a good deal of the work or you hire help. As a rule, part-time farmers hire little help.

In deciding on the enterprises to be managed by family labor, compare the amount of labor that can be supplied by the family with the labor needs of various enterprises listed in table 1.

List the number of hours the family can be expected to work each month. You may want to include your own regular vacation period if you have one. Do not include all your spare time or all your family's spare time -- only what you are willing to use for farm work.

If you are going to produce for home use only, you will need only hand tools. You will probably want to hire someone to do the plowing, however.

For larger plantings, you'll need some kind of power for plowing, harrowing, disking, and cultivating. If you have a planting of half an acre or more you may want to buy a small garden tractor (available for $300 to $500 with attachments, 1960 prices). These tractors are not entirely satisfactory for plowing, particularly on heavier soils, so you may still want to hire someone to do the plowing.