OREGON FARMER 



43 



writer has often advised newcomers to hire out or rent a farm in a 

 region a year before buying. 



Land values in different divisions are shown according to the 

 U. S. census and for representative farms as determined by the 

 Agricultural Survey (see Table 1, below). The price varies largely 

 as the location is close in or further out. 



Improved dairy land or diversified crop or stock farming land 

 or fruit land implanted (as good as there is, as far as productivity 

 is concerned) may be purchased in Western Oregon at from $50 to 

 $150 per acre, depending on the location and improvements. Truck 

 land may be purchased for from $100 to $200, and irrigated land in 

 Eastern Oregon for from $50 to $150. 



The best homestead lands are already taken. Most of the remain- 

 ing homestead lands are in Central Oregon. There is practically 

 no homesteading land in Western Oregon. Most homesteads are 

 worth what the owner makes of them. In many cases, though not 

 all, the homesteader who has a small amount of money and good 

 farming ability would do better to invest it in deeded land or in 

 renting land until his capital is increased. From tenant to owner 

 is a change that takes place rapidly in Oregon. Rental terms are 

 reasonable and crop conditions steady, so that renting is an attractive 

 opportunity for the farmer of small capital as it permits the handling 

 of far larger acreage and operations than would the same capital 

 invested in his own land. See Table 2, page 44. 



Table 1. 



PRESENT OCCUPATION OF LANDS IN OREGON. 



(U. S. Census). 



Present Occupation of Lands in Oregon. (Table 1, above). 

 This table shows at a glance the acreage in the state that is tillable 

 23,500,000 acres and the large proportion of this still unplowed 

 about 80% also the considerable area of tillable public land still 

 open for entry. The large amount of land that is irrigable and the 

 proportion of this now under water speaks well for the development 

 of this phase of farming. It should be understood that while small 

 areas in the Willamette Valley and Coast regions are irrigated, that 

 irrigation in these districts is not at all necessary for maximum pro- 

 duction but that in very intensive forms of farming such as truck garden- 

 ing, irrigation may be used with profit even in these humid regions. 



