70 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



We have already seen that 878,000,000 acres 

 are nominally in farms. What has become of 

 the remaining 570,000,000 acres an area 

 twice the size of the German Empire and 

 France combined which the homesteader has 

 proved as farm land and upon which he is 

 willing to pay taxes on an average acre valu- 

 ation of over thirty-two dollars. The answer 

 is vital to the Gleaner. 



The census enumerators adopt a system in 

 accounting for the arable area that is a little 

 more flexible than that of the statisticians who 

 count crops. The census enumerators rank 

 477,000,000 acres of the total of 878,000,000, 

 as being "improved" that is, in addition to 

 being cultivated, a large area of it is devoted 

 to pastures and wood lots. This figure still 

 leaves over 400,000,000 acres nominally in 

 farms, as standing idle in the face of the soar- 

 ing prices of food. Is it not a striking fact 

 in relation to an industry which counted its 

 plant its land as worth $28,000,000,000 in 

 1910, that nearly one-half of that land was 

 idle and non-producing at that time? Over 

 400,000,000 acres has been accepted as 

 a gift, and, found to be too stubborn for cul- 

 tivation so long as there is mellow land in 



