XXIX 



UNCLE SAM'S BIG FARM 



MA2TY of the citizens of the United States who are 

 patriotic and proud of their country have never- 

 theless vague ideas concerning the extent of Uncle 

 Sam's Big Farm. I have applied for information on 

 this point to the Department of Agriculture, and have 

 been courteously furnished with the following data: 



First of all I call attention to the chart, which shows 

 in a graphic manner the extent of the land area of the 

 United States and of the different kinds of land therein, 

 namely, arable, irrigable, drainable, forest, grazing and 

 desert. This chart gives at a glance and in a compara- 

 tive way most valuable information. In submitting 

 these data I call particular attention to the caution 

 given by the Department of Agriculture in transmitting 

 the estimates, by reason of the very difficult task of se- 

 curing absolutely reliable data on all these points. The 

 officials of the Department emphasize the fact that the 

 data rest upon many variable factors that vitiate more 

 or less such estimates as these; nevertheless they are 

 undoubtedly the most accurate which have been made, 

 and while further investigations may change them 

 slightly they may be accepted as approximately correct. 



Especially is it difficult to give accurate forecasts of 

 the areas which may be brought under cultivation in 

 the future by reason of reclaiming swamps and deserts. 

 In the opinion of the Department utilization of land 



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