The matter of the proper combination of the factors of production, which is the most important as well as by far the most difficult problem in farm organization, has prominently engaged the attention of those who have occupied themselves with the extension of the general principles of economics into the field of agriculture.' These writers have given almost the whole of their attention, however, to the problem of the ideal combination of the factors of production, a priori considered, and have devoted little or no attention to the circumstances which determine whether one or more of the factors can be shifted in quantitative relation to the other factors so as to secure the correction of an existing disproportion or a nearer approach to the ideal combination. The question of the ideal combination is a highly important one. But what we ordinarily face is not the opportunity to realize the ideal combination of the factors of production de novo in a virgin agricultural area where the factors are wholly free to our moulding. Rather it is a question of shifting or modifying the existing farm organization in the search for a more nearly perfect combination. Doubtless with reference to virgin areas not yet organized into farms there is the opportunity of trying out the principles of an ideal combination with a free hand. Thus there are at present land colonization of land exploitation concerns that are advertising "standardized farms" that have been organized from the uncombined factors of production and put into actual operation for the prospective colonist or purchaser. Also, in a number of countries, the state has likewise prepared farms for settlement, and in some cases set them going for the prospective lessee or purchasing colonist, either from