TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK- PART X 545 



gift from the Government, on soil fertile enough to permit, for one or two 

 generations, ))rofitable farming with little equipment other than energy 

 and courage. At the same time the nation as a whole did not suffer from 

 the depletion of the soil in the older states, for the reason that increased 

 production on the rich soils newly brought under cultivation in the West 

 kept pace with the ever increasing demand for food. Hence it was that 

 the decrease in the agricultural population and the abandonment of a 

 large part of the land formerly tilled in the Eastern States attracted little 

 attention. Agricultural economists looked with complaisance on the de- 

 crease in rural population, shown in the following statistics taken from 

 recent census reports: 



DECREASE IN POPULATION AND ABANDONMENT OF LAND IN THE 



OLDER STATES. 



Gain or loss in population, 1890-1900. 



Similarly, a decrease of 38.1 per cent in the area of improved farm land 

 in the six New England States between 1880 and 1900 was not regarded 

 as a calamity, but as a natural consequence of the opening up of richer 

 and more easily tilled lands in the West, and the development of trans- 

 portation facilities between the grain fields of the West and the cities of 

 the East. In many of the older States a similar abandonment of land has 

 occurred that is not shown by statistics. In most of these States the area 

 of improved land is only 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the total area. New 

 land has been cleared as old land was abandoned. A conservative system 

 of agriculture would have kept the older lands in cultivation. 



THE PRESENT SITUATION. 



We are now confronted by a new situation. The bringing into culti- 

 vation of new land in the West no longer meets the loss due to abandon- 

 ment of older lands in the East, combined with the increased demand 

 for farm products. Our people, instead of remaining at home and build- 

 ing up impoverished farms, still continue to migrate in search of virgin 

 lands. The stream of migration which has flowed westward since settle- 

 ment began on the Atlantic coast is now being deflected southward and 

 northward. During the past six years an average of 54,000 American citi- 



a Inhabitants not living in incorporated towns or cities. 

 35 



