FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 119 



all that is physically possible. Where each and every farmer 

 finds it to his advantage to spread out in this way, it follows that 

 the agricultural nation as a whole spreads out over a wider and 

 wider area as it increases in population, so long as there is more 

 land to be had. It is only under stress of necessity, of sheer 

 scarcity of land, that it begins to economize land by more in- 

 tensive cultivation, that is, by putting more labor on each 

 acre in the attempt to make it produce a larger crop. When 

 this necessity arises it will be very difficult for any nation to 

 prevent its growing population from migrating to other coun- 

 tries, provided there are other countries where land is still 

 abundant. 1 



The striking difference between agriculture and the urban 

 industries, with respect to their demands upon land, may be 

 seen by considering that it will require from 20,000 to 100,000 

 acres to produce 1,000,000 bushels of wheat, whereas one acre 

 will suffice for grinding it into flour, and a very few acres for 

 baking it into bread. While land is, of course, essential to an 

 urban industry, the demand for land surface is so trifling as to 

 be treated as a negligible factor. Accessibility to markets and 

 certain public opportunities, and not mere surface, is the essen- 

 tial thing in a city business, and it is this accessibility which 

 gives such amazing value to certain urban sites. 



An agricultural vs. a manufacturing and commercial policy. 

 Upon this particular difference between agriculture and the urban 

 industries is based the broadest of all differences in national 

 policy, that between a commercial or manufacturing policy 

 on the one hand, and an agricultural policy on the other. Until 

 all the land of the country is occupied by factories, stores, and 



1 The state of Iowa furnishes a striking example of this. Though it is the 

 richest agricultural state in the Union in proportion to its area, and one of the 

 richest agricultural areas in the world, yet it is losing population through 

 emigration to other areas where land is more abundant 



