138 RURAL MICHIGAN 



of this grant disposed of before the year 1885 was 

 $4.58 an acre. The university lands sold at some- 

 thing over $11 an acre on the average. Of these 

 school lands the State still (July 1920) owns 8,066.15 

 acres. In addition to the school lands, grants were 

 also made by the United States to the University, 

 the z\gricultural College and the normal schools. 

 Through purchase, also, these became incorporated 

 mainly in the agricultural lands of Michigan. A 

 much larger contribution of acreage resulted from 

 the act of Congress of 1850, which conveyed to Ar- 

 kansas by name and other states by inclusion "wet 

 or swamp lands" within their borders. Out of this 

 legislation Michigan derived by patent from the 

 United States 5,655,689.56 acres, likewise largely dis- 

 posed of for the benefit of the primary schools. 



The average price of improved farms in Michigan 

 in 1921 is placed at $91 an acre by the statistician 

 of the Cooperative Crop Eeporting Service. This 

 represents an increase of $4 an acre over the pre- 

 ceding year, although the downward tendency of 

 prices of farm products was beginning to manifest 

 itself in land valuations in some localities.^ How- 

 ever, in a state where soil and climatic conditions 

 vary so markedly, with differences in market and 

 transportation conditions, extreme variation in the 

 valuations placed on agricultural lands are to be 

 expected. The appraisers for the Federal Land Bank 

 of St. Paul have found that, in evaluating lands, each 

 farm presents a distinct problem in itself, particularly 



^ "]\Iich. Crop Kept.," Lansing, March, 1921, 4. 



