88 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



table regions. They are beginning to appear in 

 the exclusive wheat regions, where the yields are 

 constantly growing less and where the social life 

 is usually monotonous and barren. The hay- 

 selling system of many parts of the Northeastern 

 states presents similar results, as does also the 

 exclusive corn-grownig for the general market 

 when stock-raising is not a part of the business. 

 The loss of fertility in the Northern states is 

 less rapid because of the climatic conditions that 

 arrest the winter waste; fewer landlords, and 

 these for the most part retired farmers who live 

 near their farms and largely control the methods 

 of cultivating the land; and a different kind of 

 agriculture and a different social structure. It 

 is, however, serious enough even in the Northern 

 states, and especially in the Mississpipi Valley, 

 particularly when lands are held as an investment 

 by capitalists who know nothing about farming 

 and care only for annual returns, and also when 

 held by speculators in the hope of harvesting the 

 unearned increment, which has been large of late 

 years, due probably to some world-wide cause, 

 which it is beyond our province to discuss. In 

 any case, whether North or South, it has become a 



