216 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



tillage and more than satisfied that need. The question has been 

 answered in the past by the soil, at least in part, from the point of 

 view of an increased number of acres. Let me give here a few 

 figures which will explain this statement. In 1880, the total farm 

 area of the United States was 536,081,835 acres, divided into 4,008,- 

 907 farms. In 1900 this acreage had increased 56 per cent, or to 

 838,591,774 acres, cut up into 5,737,372 farms. While the farm area 

 had increased 56 per cent., the number of farms had been increased 

 over 40 per cent., thus showing that the average size of the 

 farms had slightly increased. This increase in size amounts to only 

 13 acres but is reflected in the fact that there had been a decrease 

 in the ratio of improved farm land to the total of 3.7 per cent., 

 or from 53.1 per cent, to 49.4 per cent. 



Coincident with the increase in growth of our farm area and num- 

 ber of farms has been our rapid increase in population. During the 

 two decades that our farm land increased 56 per cent, our popula- 

 tion increased in practically the same ratio. Our gain in population 

 was 26,147,604, or 52 per cent, greater in 1900 than in 1880. 



During the period, which has elapsed since the last Federal Cen- 

 sus there has been a gratifying increase in the value of farm pro- 

 ducts. It is to be regretted that there is no data available con- 

 cerning the acreage and improvement of farm lands later than those 

 quoted. However, in considering this increased value of products 

 of the soil we must bear in mind not only the increased production 

 but also the high market prices as well as any increase in acre- 

 age. We must also take into account the fact that our population 

 has increased from 76,303,387 in 1900 to 84,154,009 in 1906 or a little 

 more than ten per cent. 



The meeting of this (juestion by the soil must in the future 

 be different from the past. Although only about one-half of our 

 total land area is now held and classed as farm land, we cannot look 

 for any considerable extension of the farm land area, for the greater 

 part of that portion of the country not now held and occupied by 

 farms is either mountainous, hopelessly arid, or otherwise unsuited 

 for agricultural purposes. While we cannot materially add to the 

 area already classed as farm land, our population is increasing and 

 will continue to increase and their needs must be met and supplied. 

 The population of our country has doubled in the last thirty years, 

 and is now increasing at a rate more rapid than ever before. At 

 the present rate of increase it will be only about twenty-five to 

 thirty years before we will have 150,000,000 people to clothe and 

 feed, and when that time comes our production must also be doubled. 

 All increases in our population must be met with corresponding in- 

 crease in our production of food crops, and with small pos- 

 sibilities of so enlarging our farm area as to meet the demands, 

 there is but one solution pos^ble, that is, every available acre 

 of farm land must be made to produce larger j-ields than they have 

 ever done before. 



Today, in our great centers of population, there is an actual scar- 

 city of some of the farm products. New York City and other large 

 cities cannot secure enough of some of the easily perishable pro- 

 ducts of the soil even at extremely high prices. This condition of 

 the markets is coincident with a greatly increased cost of living and 



