KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 21 



world conditions, principally by increasing, through sound and 

 economical methods, the productivity of areas already under culti- 

 vation; and utilize the services of the most experienced and judicious 

 agricultural leaders in determining where, when, and how to bring 

 into cultivation and develop public and private unused land. 



The best experts of the Federal department and of the agri- 

 cultural colleges should make a careful investigation of the possi- 

 bilities of utilizing land not now devoted to agriculture. In respect 

 to the 200,000,000 acres of ^ cut-over land, the 60,000,000 requiring 

 drainage, and the 30,000,000 which may be irrigated, there is great 

 variation from district to district as to the possibility of economic 

 use. Distinctive regions should be fully studied with a view to as- 

 semble all existing data on productivity, cost of making the land 

 available, present tenure and prices, type of agriculture best adapted 

 to the conditions, possible returns, minimum size of farms capable of 

 supporting families in reasonable comfort, minimum equipment 

 needed at the beginning of settlement, sources of credit, and market- 

 ing and transportation facilities. 



LAND SETTLEMENT. 



At present various private agencies are engaged in promoting 

 land settlement. Many of them are honest in intention, promise, 

 and practice; others keep within the letter of the law but, through 

 exaggeration and indirection of statement, create false impres- 

 sions in the mind of the settler. Many violate no canon of fair 

 business practice, but their interest is in profits and they do not 

 pursue a policy calculated to develop a profitable and wholesome 

 community life. Only a few have made careful • studies of the 

 conditions of successful settlement and developed their business 

 with a view to the settlers' progress and success. Practically all 

 are seeking to realize the highest possible price for their undeveloped 

 holdings, and the settler is compelled to face the problem of ad- 

 justment to pioneer conditions while carrying a burden of land value 

 which often represents, in part, the capitalization of a future in- 

 crease in earning power. 



The intending settler of small means is rarely able to distinguish 

 between the good and bad methods of selling land in new regions. 

 The more unscrupulous the land company the more lurid are its 



