326 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



for crops will probably never reach the total estimated 

 area of potential arable land. On the contrary, -with 

 increasing population and improved methods of mar- 

 keting, the trend will probably be towards the more 

 intensive cultivation of the more fertile or favorably 

 situated land, and the more extensive cultivation of the 

 less valuable land, as is illustrated in China. This 

 trend is particularly evident in California, where the 

 wheat acreage declined between 1899 and 1909 from 

 2,683,405 acres to 478,217 acres, while the area planted 

 to alfalfa, vegetables and fruit, increased during the 

 same time 340,000 acres. During this time, also, 569,- 

 000 acres reverted to unimproved land, and approxi- 

 mately 900,000 acres were transformed into improved 

 pasture. 



It appears from the investigations that have been 

 made that the acreage of arable land in the Eastern part 

 of the country will not increase very greatly unless 

 lower prices of labor render the use of machinery less 

 profitable, and permit a return to the cultivation of the 

 hillside by hand. On the contrary, in the Western part 

 of the country, with rising prices of beef cattle, the ten- 

 dency is likely to be towards an increase rather than a 

 diminution of the land devoted to pasture. 



The points in the graphic chart which are particu- 

 larly interesting are : First, the total land area of the 

 United States, and this of course does not include any 

 of its territorial possessions, is, in round numbers, 

 1,904,000,000 acres. The total land suitable for cul- 

 ture, that is, arable land, is 935,000,000 acres, a little 

 less than half of the total area. The land suitable to 

 cultivation which has not yet been brought under the 

 plow is 456,000,000 acres, and the possible irrigable 

 land still un-irrigated 31,000,000 acres, and the possi- 



