24 



Yearbooh of the DepartTnent of Agriculimre^ 1921. 



USE OF THE LAND 



PRESENT, 1920 



POTENTIAL 



TOTAL LAND AREA OF THE UNITED STATES 

 1,903,000,000 ACRES 

 IMPROVED LAND, 503,000,000 ACRES 

 IN HARVESTED CROPS, 365,000,000 ACRES 

 rN PASTURE, ABOUT 70.000,000 ACRES 

 IN FALLOW, LANES, FARMSTEADS, LAND LYING 

 IDLE, CROPS NOT HARVESTED, ETC., 

 68,000,000 ACRES 



FOREST, CUT-OVER, AND BURNT-OVER LAND 

 465,000,000 ACRES 

 (excluding 60 MILLION ACRES OF PINON-JUNIPER, 

 MESQUITE, OAK SCRUB, AND CHAPARRAL ) 



INFARMS, PASTURED, ABOUT 100,000,000 ACRES 

 IN FARMS, NOT PASTURED, ABOUT 68,000,000 A. 

 NOT IN FARMS, 297,000,000 ACRES 

 ^ABOUT ONE-THIRD IN NATIONAL FORESTs) 



UNIMPROVED PASTURE AND RANGE LAND 

 863,000,000 ACRES 



(including 60 MILLION ACRES OF PINON-JUNIPER, 

 MESQUITE, OAK SCRUB, AND CHAPARRAl) 



in farms, pastured, about 150,000,000 acres 

 in farms, not pastured, about 135,000,000 a. 

 not in farms. about 578,000,000 acres 

 (mostly pastured) 



NON-AGRICULTURAL LAND, 72,000,000 ACRES 

 DESERT (not GRAZED) 40,000,000 ACRES 

 CITIES AND VILLAGES, 10,000,000 ACRES 

 PUBLIC ROADS, 18,000,000 ACRES 

 RAILROAD RIGHTS OF WAY. 4,000,060 ACRES 



IMPROVED LAND, 800,000,000 ACRES 

 IMPROVED LAND, 1920, 503,000,000 ACRES 

 IRRIGABLE, UNIRRiGATED, 30,000,000 ACRES 

 WET LAND, REQUIRING DRAINAGE ONLY 



30,000,000 ACRES 

 WET LAND, REQUIRING DRAINAGE AND CLEARING 



60,000,000 ACRES 

 FOREST AND CUT-OVER, REQUIRING CLEARING ONLY 



50,000,000 ACRES 

 UNIMPROVED PASTURE AND RANGE LAND 



127.000,000 ACRES 



FOREST LAND, 355,000,000 ACRES 

 (absolute forest land) 



EASTERN STATES, 250,000,000 ACRES 



WESTERN STATES, 105,000,000 ACRES 

 (excluding PINON-JUNIPER. oak. scrub. MESQUITE 

 AND chaparral) 



UNIMPROVED PASTURE AND RANGE LAND 



658.000.000 ACRES 



(including PINON-JUNIPER.OAK scrub, MESQUITE 

 ^ND chaparral) 



EASTERN STATES 



63,000,000 ACRES 

 WESTERN STATES. 



595,000,000 ACRES 



NON-AGRICULTURAL LAND, 90,000,000 ACRES 

 DESERT, NON-IRRIGABLE, 39,000,000 ACRES 

 CITIES AND VILLAGES, 20,000,000 ACRES 

 PUBLIC ROADS, 25,000,000 ACRES 

 RAILROAD RIGHTS OF WAY, 6,000.000 ACRES 



Fig. 1(. — It i.s po.s.sible to increase the ai-ea of improved land about 300 million acres, 

 or OU per cent, by irrigation, drainage, clearing, and dry farming. But until farm 

 products are higlier in price most of this reclamation work would not prove profitable. 

 On the other hand, although there are about 35.5 million acres of humid land so hilly 

 or sterile as to be fit only for forest.s, the price of lumber will prohablv warrant the 

 additional use permanently of 100 million acres of poor potentially arable land for 

 forest ins1:ead of crops. In other words, the present forest and cut-over area is not 

 likely to decrease greatly. The area in cities and villages is relatively insignificant and 

 will remain so even with double or treble the present population. 



