CHAPTER XI 



THE FARMER'S MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND. 



Section I. Free land. Hitherto the progress 

 of American agriculture has been powerfully in- 

 fluenced by the presence of vast areas of govern- 

 ment lands which were easily secured, easily 

 brought into cultivation, and which gave large 

 returns upon investments. The presence of these 

 vast areas of cheap land of great fertility in a 

 country where labor was scarce led to the inven- 

 tion of many labor saving devices until America 

 became noted the world over for her agricultural 

 machinery; but, above all, the presence of free 

 land has made the oppressions of landlords im- 

 possible. The farmers have been able to take up 

 valuable government lands. This means of 

 acquiring land ownership has been very impor- 

 tant from the time the first settlers landed in the 

 New World until the present time. When, in the 

 earlier days, land became scarce in Massachusetts, 

 emigration to Connecticut set in, and when the 

 best lands in both of these colonies were occupied, 

 there still remained unoccupied, good land in New 

 York. When the small farmers of Virginia were 



198 



