62 ' UNITED STATES - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



sion interviewed paid an average price of $130 an acre, which price included 

 only part of the cost of necessary works of irrigation. The early settlers 

 in Modesto and the Oakdale districts bought land for less than $50 an acre ; 

 but land 01 the same kind in these districts now sells for $100 and $150 

 an acre, in some cases for $250 and $300 an acre. 



In fact, throughout the area of colonization the price of land has been 

 multiplied by from two to ten, while the profits of farming have increased 

 little if at all. Hence some years ago men who bought land at $50 an 

 acre could pay high interest and also free themselves from debt, while 

 those who have bought recently have to struggly even to pay interest. 



The higher prices of land have made intensive cultivation necessary, 

 and this entails costlier improvements and equipment. The investigation 

 of the United States census showed that while the average area of a farm 

 diminished between 1900 and 1910, the average capital invested in it in- 

 creased by 86 per cent. 



The average cost of improvement and equipment also increases as 

 the size of the farm diminishes. Even if the cost of a house and stable on 

 a twenty acre farm is no more than it used to be on a farm of 160 acres, 

 its average cost per acre is about eight times as great. 



The estimates made' by the commercial organizations show that the 

 ultimate cost of improvements on the small intensively cultivated farms 

 averages $ 180 an acre. 



The short time given in which to pay for land in most contracts of 

 colonization implies a profit following on cultivation of between 20 and 25 

 per cent, of the cost of land and equipment. Such profits are occasionally 

 made but they are. not the rule. Investigations of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shows that the fully improved farm rarely pays more 

 than 5 per cent, on the investment ; if reasonable allowance be made for the 

 wages of the farmer and his family. 



The United States Reclamation Service has kept a careful census of 

 the yield and value of crops grown under federal projetcs. It reports the 

 following as the average values of crops : I31 an acre in 1910, $27 an acre 

 in 1911, $26.60 an acre in 1912, and I24.50 in 1913. The reductions are 

 mainly due to the declining prices of products, and prices for the last two 

 years are higher. The total area cultivated under various projects, namel}' 

 1,364,149.9 acres (of which 703,424 were cultivated under government 

 reclamation projects) was found to yield a crop worth, on an average, only 

 $ 23.45 an acre. 



In all districts exceptional single farms and single acres yielded far 

 more than the average returns. For example single acres in Orland plant- 

 ed with citrus fruits have brought in $249 each, and single acres planted 

 with small fruits $252 each. Single acres devoted to truck farming in 

 Californian colonies have brought in more than $ 100 each. But plans 

 for payment for colonists' farms should of course be based not on excep- 

 tional instances but on averages. 



The United States census gave $43.50 an acre as the gross value of 

 crops grown on irrigated land in California, but beginners cannot expect 



