54. THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



acre and nearly two thirds of the land in 

 the possession of the American farmer to-day 

 is unproductive and the acre under the 

 highest form of cultivation. In the vicinity of 

 New York there are truck farms paying, be- 

 sides wages to labor and profits, interest on 

 a capitalization up to $2,000 an acre. The 

 same is true of large tracts of land in the Far 

 West highly cultivated orchards under ex- 

 pensive systems of irrigation. They all go 

 in the scale, together with the swamp and scrub 

 land. In the Middle West, where a large pro- 

 portion of the farm land is actually producing 

 food (Iowa plows ninety-seven per cent, of her 

 dominions), the price of an acre varies from 

 $75 to $250 and touches $400 near large cities. 

 These figures have nothing to do with the pres- 

 ent stage of the discussion, but are cited 

 merely to give emphasis to the term "average 

 acre." 



The fortunes of the Jeremiahs who stayed 

 on the farm when there was no one so poor 

 as the farmer form a strange contrast indeed 

 with those of his brothers who flocked to the 

 cities when hogs touched two cents on the hoof 

 and corn was fed to the stove. 



Hetty Green, the woman financier, speaks 



