EXPERIMENT STATION BULIjETINS. 



485 



Eleven per ceut of the total area has been taken up in farms, and 

 only 39.4 per cent of this area is improved. Not over 4.5 per cent of 

 the total land area or 7 per cent of the tillable land is improved, leaving 

 enormous areas of good land to be developed. The average acreage per 

 farm is 95.8 acres ; the average improved acreage per farm is 37.8 acres. 

 When classified according to size we find that by far the largest number 

 of farms are included in those ranging from 20 to IGO acres or 88.8 per 

 cent of all the farm lands are included in this group. 



The number of mars owned in whole or in part by operators totals 

 11,213; 5,094 are free from mortgage, and 5,131 of the farms are mort- 

 gaged. The number of farms reporting debt is 4,810. The value of the 

 land and buildings amounts to §20,922,070, and the amount of mortgage 

 debt is 16,555,877, paying an average rate of interest of 6.1 per cent. 

 Because the agriculture of the territory is new, this reasonable amount 

 of indebtedness is due to acquirement of land, buildings, machinery and 

 livestock. It is a good indication of the conservative and gradual de- 

 velopment of the men interested in agriculture in this section, the ratio 

 of mortgage debt to farm value being only 31 per cent. The necessity 

 of extending credit to the new settler in order that he may become a 

 financial success is fully as important as to furnish capital for the de- 

 velopment of industrial organizations. The rapidity with which this 

 section of the State will develop will depend a great deal upon the far- 

 sightedness of our bankers and businessmen in the extension of suitable 

 credit for agricultural development. 



Fig. 5. Wen established farms are found on seed soils in areas that have been settled 

 over a period of fifteen or twenty years. Farm of A. Anderson, Chatham, Mich. 



The number of rented farms in the Upper Peninsula is probably less 

 than in any other equal area. Of the 12,317 farms, only 1,104 farms, or 

 9 per cent, are operated by tenants and managers. The farms operated 

 by males total 11,798 and those operated by females 519. 



Among the many questions which arise from the investigation of 

 the agricultural possibilities, would be that of the class of farmers who 

 are already in the Upper Peninsula. The number of farms operated by 

 native born whites amounts to 3,393, located principally in Chippewa, 

 Delta and Menominee counties; the farms operated by foreign-born 



