SEGREGATION OF FARM FROM FORF.ST LAND G:;.") 



light and requiring intelligent cultivation," and "sandy drift, 

 soil variable, but usually second rate," and even "dunes — usually un- 

 profitable for agriculture." With such statements no fault can be found 

 on the ground of untruthfulness, but still they are typically misleading. 



The Office of Farm Management of the Department of Agriculture 

 has been, perhaps, as uncompromising as any official agency concerned, 

 and its contributions to this subject are peculiarly and perhaps un- 

 consciously pertinent. With everybody agreeing on the abstract prin- 

 ciple that "each portion of our land area should be utilized for the grow- 

 ing of those products for which it is naturally best suited,'" and that 

 actual demonstration must dominate all theory, the painstaking inven- 

 tory of current farming operations must be accepted as the best basis 

 for future procedure. 



"Farming on the Cut-over Lands of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Min- 

 nesota" ^^ reports upon 80 1 typical farms. With due allowance for the 

 propriety of giving no unnecessary offence, the lack of directness with 

 which the report is interpreted is still noteworthy. The usual color 

 persists, even though it is not, and evidently is not intended to be, 

 deceptive to the wary reader. 



"The cut-over district comprises an area of about 30,000,000 acres 

 which is rapidly being developed into farms." . . . "Few farmers 

 in this district are rapidly accumulating wealth, but with economy and 

 good management, there is opportunity to make a living and a little 

 more." . 



"Strange as it may seem, the lumbermen rated the land that produced 

 this heavy growth of timber as having little or no agricultural value, 

 . but a large percentage of these soil types can and will eventu- 

 ally be brought under successful cultivation." . . . "From a 

 strictly business point of view, these farms do not appear to be success- 

 ful. . . . The owners should not be satisfied with their present con- 

 ditions, and indeed most of them are not." 



"It is important in all cases to make sure that the quality of the land 

 justifies the expense of clearing." -- 



Forty-nine per cent of the 801 farms had a labor income of less than 

 nothing and 88 per cent of the farms returned less than a dollar a day 



■" Nourse, loc. cit. 



-' U. S. D. A. Bulletin 425, 1916. 



" If all legitimate charges are made against it, the cost of clearing often cancels 

 all hope of profit, even when the site is otherwise favorable. See U. S. D. A. 

 Farmers' Bulletin 150, 1902; Hunger, "The Timbermen," July, 1918; Shattuck 

 Experiment Sta. Bull. 91, 1916, Moscow, Idaho; Mich. Ag. Coll. Special Bull. 90, 

 1918, p. 28. 



