AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



and more difficult for a farmer to acquire the 

 ownership of land, we must study those forces and 

 conditions which enable the farmer to buy land, 

 and also the conditions which retard his making 

 investments in land. If we wish to improve the 

 conditions with respect to the ownership of farms, 

 we should devise some means of improving the 

 farmer's facilities for making such acquisitions. 



Section II. Land values and land ownership. 

 That progress in society which results in a rise in 

 land values, tends to make it more difficult to buy 

 a farm out of the savings from personal profits. 

 This may be given as an important factor in 

 bringing about the decline in the percentage of 

 landowning farmers. It may be that the farmer 

 will be able to save a larger sum of money each 

 year, and, yet, not be able to pay for a farm so 

 readily after a rise in land values as before; be- 

 cause more money would be required to pay for 

 the land. If the rise in land values kept pace with 

 the rise in the value of farm produce, and no more, 

 so that the profits due to personal ability would 

 rise in the same proportion as land values, the 

 amount of time required for saving the money 

 with which to buy a farm would remain the same. 

 But as a matter of fact the progress which makes 

 a demand for farm products at an increased price 

 is usually accompanied by an increase in the agri- 

 cultural population, and hence a larger number of 

 farmers would be competing for the use of the 

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