COMPARISON OF FOREST WITH AGRICULTURAL VALUES 2 29 



wash away by erosion, blow into sand dunes, lose their small 

 store of fertility by too active drainage, or for other reasons fail 

 to respond to the efforts of the farmer. 



234. Exploitation of Land Purchasers. Intelligent farmers 

 refuse to buy or work such lands. Uninformed purchasers, 

 either foreigners or city emigrants unused to farming, buy 

 these lands because they are cheap. They are even less able to 

 make a living upon them than are the more experienced farmers 

 who have passed them by. The effort results in financial and 

 often in moral bankruptcy. Lands of this character thus change 

 hands often, and since the real estate business is based on land 

 transfers, it thrives on such conditions. 



Whatever hurts the individual hurts the whole community. 

 The exploitation of well-meaning land-hungry investors by 

 professional land locators and real estate sharks is a business 

 closely akin to more pronounced forms of swindling. Local 

 sentiment in such communities will be largely molded by these 

 selfish predatory interests and will resist attempts to properly 

 classify such land as non-agricultural. Thus a condition is 

 created containing limitless possibilities of evil to the public at 

 large. 



235. Land Classification. The solution of this problem lies 

 in the scientific classification of lands, to determine whether or 

 not agriculture is possible. If unsuitable for farms, then the 

 lands fall naturally into the class of forest soils, and should be 

 removed from the market as agricultural land, and devoted to 

 forest production. The best way to accomplish this removal is 

 for the states to purchase such soils for forest reserves or for the 

 national government to acquire them for stream protection. 



236. Basis of Comparison of Agricultural and Forest Values of 

 Land. To compare the value of land for agriculture with its 

 value for forestry, each value must if possible be expressed in 

 money. In each case the basis of value is future net income 

 capitalized (62). If we include for botrTuses all items of future 

 income, minus future costs, and can appraise this income and its 

 present value accurately, the 4 comparison will reveal the relative 

 value of the property and determine whether the soil is best suited 



