60 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



fruits of land is reflected in the prophecy of 

 the novelist Cooper, when he said that the re- 

 sources of the single State of New York were 

 sufficient to feed its people for ages to come. 



In those days the main question was what 

 to plant, not where to plant it. From the 

 Indians they had corn and tobacco, and the 

 same corn was destined in another hundred 

 years to produce for the nation one million 

 dollars an hour for every daylight hour of its 

 four months' growing season. 



It has taken over a century to find out 

 how far the land would go to ascertain how 

 much of the grand total of 1,937,145,000 

 acres (exclusive of lakes and rivers) would 

 eventually prove arable, would offer sufficient 

 inducements to the pioneers of the industry of 

 farming to expend their labor thereon. 



Eleven decades of growth, during which the 

 population increased to nearly one hundred 

 millions, finally answered the question, 3nally 

 brought the basic industry of the nation to 

 the end of its initial stage of development 

 where land becomes capital and exacts its 

 tithes no less than labor. These facts mean 

 nothing if they do not impress the reader that 

 he who goes back to the land to-day is the 



