16 The Bulletin. 



We have 22,439,129 acres of land in farms in North Carolina. Of 

 this amount of land, only 8,813,056 acres are improved. This leaves 

 13,626,073 acres of unimproved land in farms. It is evident that this 

 vast territory of nonproductive land should be brought under cultiva- 

 tion and made to contribute its share to the maintenance of the popula- 

 tion of the State, and to do this would require about twice our present 

 farming population. 



As pointed out above, our markets are calling for more than we are 

 producing, and, as a consequence, millions upon millions of dollars worth 

 of food and feed products are yearly being shipped into the State from 

 outside sources. 



FOOD PRODUCTS SHIPPED INTO NORTH CAROLINA DURING 1911. 



Two years ago the Agronomy Division was directed to ascertain, as 

 far as possible, the amount of food products shipped into the State in 

 1909. The result of that investigation was an estimate submitted by 

 various business men from all over the State. While it was an esti- 

 mate, we feel that it was a close approximation to the facts, which 

 showed that around $60,000,000 worth of food products were shipped 

 into North Carolina during 1909. During the present year, the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture directed this Division to make another investi- 

 gation for the same purpose, and this time we took the matter up with 

 the different railroad companies operating interstate lines of railroad. 

 We addressed a letter to them, asking them to furnish us with such 

 data as might be available to show the amount of various food and feed 

 products shipped into the State over their lines of road during 1911. 

 We are pleased to say that every railroad except two gave us figures 

 taken directly from their books. About these, there is absolutely no 

 guess or estimate; we have the facts. Two companies, however, failed 

 to give us the data, and we were forced to estimate the products shipped 

 in over their lines. These were the Atlantic Coast Line and the Sea- 

 board Air Line. We attempted to place the estimate below what we feel 

 were the actual facts. This enables us to present herewith reliable data 

 showing the amount of feed and food products shipped into the State 

 over the different lines of railroad during 1911. 



