BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. 183 



Bureau of Plant Industiy, and Land Classification Board of the 

 United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, the 

 Division of Land Economics serving as coordinating agency. The 

 economic surveys have been carried on in North and South Dakota, 

 Montana, Colorado, and Kansas jointly by this division and the Divi- 

 sion of Farm Organization of this bureau, in cooperation with the 

 agricultural colleges in the States involved. Results will be pub- 

 lished in a series of bulletins dealing with the utilization of the land 

 and the agricultural situation in these regions. Problems of farm 

 organization and land utilization in these regions are very serious, 

 particularly those relating to size of farms and system of farming 

 adapted to the variable climatic conditions. The purpose of these 

 surveys is to help in the solution of these problems. 



TREND OF LAND UTILIZATION STUDIED. 



Increasing population and changes in domestic consumption and 

 in European demand are exerting a powerful influence upon the use 

 of the land for crops, pasture, and forest, and upon the selection of 

 crops and systems of farming. Safe advice to farmers must be based 

 on knowledge of these trends. Studies of the trend of land utiliza- 

 tion in the United States as affected by increasing population, 

 changes in consumption tastes, and the European situation have been 

 summarized for publication in the 1923 Yearbook of the Department 

 of Agriculture. A preliminary study appeared in the January, 1923, 

 issue of the Geographical Review. 



CENSUS STATISTICS ON USE OF LAND TABULATED. 



Six questions on crop land harvested, crop failure, and idle crop 

 land, pasture land suitable for crops, woodland pasture, and other 

 pasture land were included at our request in the 1920 census sched- 

 ule. The data obtained are now being tabulated and compiled, by 

 townships, by this division in cooperation with the Census Bureau. 

 They will be published jointly by the Departments of Commerce and 

 Agriculture, and will probably be presented in map form in the Great 

 Plains bulletins referred to above, and in similar publications for 

 other regions. These statistics provide a basis for the study of land 

 utilization in the United States and the possibilities of increasing 

 production. 



RECLAMATION POLICIES REVIEWED. 



A report on land reclamation policies in the United States was 

 undertaken and completed. In this the history of Federal and State 

 policies of the past is reviewed and recommendations as to the future 

 are made. This report should be useful in formulating future 

 governmental policies as to land reclamation. 



A report on farm lands available for settlement was completed and 

 published as Farmers' Bulletin 1271. This has proved to be very 

 useful in answering inquiries as to opportunities for settlement. 



A report on the buying of farms in undeveloped regions was pre- 

 pared and submitted for publication as a Farmers' Bulletin. This 

 report points out the advantages and difficulties to be met in unde- 

 veloped regions, and should be helpful to those who contemplate 

 purchasing farms in such regions. 

 78007— AGR 1923 13 



