CHAPTER III 

 THE GLEANERS 



HOWEVER, there is another side to the ques- 

 tion happily for Jeremiah who wants to go 

 back to the land. When the statement is made 

 that all our public lands have at length passed 

 into private hands, it may mean everything 

 or nothing, according to one's viewpoint. It 

 does mean, for instance, that there is no more 

 free arable land to be had for the asking. It 

 does not mean, however, that all of the land 

 nominally in farms is actually under cultiva- 

 tion, is actually producing food. 



The Bureau of Soils, of the Federal De- 

 partment of Agriculture, made this statement 

 in 1898, in reviewing the soil resources of 

 the United States: 



"Although practically all of the arable land 

 has now passed into private hands, less than 

 one-fourth of the land nominally in farms is 

 actually under cultivation." 



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