The problem set transcribed below was found in the Harvard University archives collection of syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003; box 1. It was (mis-)filed in the folder “Economics, 1904-05”. The problem set is clearly identified as belonging to Economics 23. This semester course, “The Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions”, was taught by Professor Thomas Nixon Carver, but according to the annual report of the president of Harvard College, the course was not offered in 1904-05 though it was indeed offered during the immediately preceding academic year. I have assumed that the problem set was printed for the second term of the academic year 1903-1904. This is consistent with the library time stamp on the problem set (March 7, 1905), i.e. it cannot have come from later years.
From Carver’s autobiography, Recollections of an Unplanned Life, we know that his textbook, Principles of Rural Economics (1911) was based upon this course. For a long-form course reading list, one can consult the bibliography, pp. xi-xviii, in the textbook.
Previously transcribed and posted artifacts from Carver’s agricultural economics course:
Course enrollment and final exam for 1914-15.
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Trace of the 1904 problem set found in Carver’s 1911 textbook
Note: Column (Field A) is Table A p. 180; Column (Field C) is Table B p. 181
Source: Thomas Nixon Carver, Principles of Rural Economics, (1911).
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From Thomas Nixon Carver’s Autobiography.
I have mentioned the three strenuous years 1900 to 1903, and that I served the three following years, 1903-1906, as chairman of the Division of History, Government, and Economics. Before leaving for my sabbatical year abroad in 1906, I had resigned as chairman of the Division. In the fall of 1907 I was back in Cambridge with no administrative responsibilities and ready to settle down to teaching and writing. By this time I had come to be recognized as one of the pioneers in this country in the field of agricultural economics. One of the difficulties in the teaching of that subject was the lack of written material. Textbooks were needed and I began to plan one of my own. Before I got well started Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey of Cornell asked me to write a brief historical sketch of American agriculture for his Cyclopedia of American Agriculture which he was preparing. I under took this, not realizing how much work it would require. The material, such as there was, was widely scattered and there was no guide to indicate where to look for it. However, with much toil and sweat I finished the chapter.
Then came a request for an account of the introduction of various crops and farm animals into this country. That was a still harder job but I finished it in time. I was able, later, to use a part of the material in my book, “Principles of Rural Economics,” which Ginn & Company published in 1911.
This book did a great deal to popularize agricultural economics in this country. Henry C. Taylor’s “Introduction to the Study of Agricultural Economics” had preceded it, but, while an excellent introduction, had not made much of an appeal outside the agricultural colleges. My “Principles” sold well. As I remember it, 40,000 copies were sold the first year, and it was favorably reviewed in a number of journals…
…The course on rural economics appealed to a limited number of students, but continued to be elected by enough to make a fair-sized class…
Source: Thomas Nixon Carver. Recollections of an Unplanned Life, p. 171.
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Course description
[Economics] 23 2hf. The Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.
Omitted in 1904-05.
A study of the relation of agriculture to the whole industrial system, the relative importance of rural and urban economics, the conditions of rural life in different parts of the United States, the forms of land tenure and methods of rent payment, the comparative merits of large and small holdings, the status and wages of farm labor, the influence of farm machinery, farmers’ organizations, the marketing and distribution of farm products, agricultural credit, the economic aspects of public roads, irrigation, forestry, etc., the policy of the government toward agriculture, and the probable future of American agriculture.
The course will be conducted by means of lectures, discussions and reports, with some special investigations of local conditions.
Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05. University Publications, New Series, No. 129 (May 16, 1904), p. 47.
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Course enrollment, 1903-04
[Economics] 23 2hf. Professor Carver.—The Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions.
Total 99: 5 Graduates, 32 Seniors, 28 Juniors, 17 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen, 15 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1903-04, p. 67.
* * * * * * * *
Note: The course was indeed not offered in 1904-05, though course enrollments were reported for Carver’s courses Economic 3 “Principles of Sociology. Theories of Social Progress”; Economics 13 “Methods of Economic Investigation”; Economics 14a “The Distribution of Wealth”; Economics 14b “Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.”
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-05, pp. 74 ff.
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Course enrollment, 1905-06
[Economics] 23 2hf. Professor Carver.—The Economics of Agriculture, with special reference to American conditions.
Total 42: 4 Graduates, 10 Seniors, 11 Juniors, 14 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 2 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-06, p. 73.
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Time stamp: “Harvard College Library, MAR 7, 1905”
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 23
Amount of corn grown with varying amounts of labor on a given amount of land.
|
Number of days’ labor of a man and team with the appropriate tools. |
Product, in bushels, on each of four fields of ten acres each. | |||
| Field A. | Field B. | Field C. |
Field D. |
|
|
5 |
50 | 45 | 40 | 35 |
| 10 | 150 | 140 | 130 |
120 |
|
15 |
270 | 255 | 240 | 255 [sic] |
| 20 | 380 | 360 | 300 |
280 |
|
25 |
450 | 425 | 350 | 325 |
| 30 | 510 | 480 | 390 |
360 |
|
35 |
560 | 520 | 420 | 385 |
| 40 | 600 | 550 | 440 |
400 |
|
45 |
630 | 570 | 450 | 410 |
| 50 | 650 | 575 | 455 |
415 |
The following problems are based on the above table:—
Problem 1. Assuming that the labor of a man and team, with the appropriate tools, costs a farmer five dollars a day, and that corn is worth forty cents a bushel, how many days of such labor could he most profitably devote to the cultivation of each of the four fields?
Problem 2. Assuming that corn is worth only 33 1/3 cents a bushel, how much labor, etc., could he most profitably apply to the cultivation of each field,—the cost of labor, etc., remaining the same?
Problem 3. Assuming that a farmer has only 200 days’ labor to use, but that he can have rent free an indefinite amount of land of the grade of Field A, how much land could he most profitably use? How much land of the grade of Field C could he most profitably use?
Problem 4. How much land of each grade could he most profitably use if he had to pay five dollars an acre rent, corn being worth fifty cents a bushel, other conditions the same as in Problem 3?
Problem 5. Assuming that the two fields A and C are owned by the same farmer, and that he has but 20 days’ labor which he can devote to their cultivation, how could these 20 days be most profitably distributed among them? How could 25 days be most profitably distributed? 35 days? 50 days? 60 days? 70 days? 90 days?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1. Folder “Economics, 1904-05”.
Image Source: Thomas Nixon Carver in Harvard Class Album 1906.