18 ANNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



yields per acre. It has been estimated by experts that only about 15 

 per cent of the land in cultivation is yielding reasonably full returns. 

 The opportunity is presented, as conditions warrant, to bring the 

 remaining 85 per cent up to the point of fair yield. One of the 

 objectives of all good farmers and of the agricultural agencies 

 assisting them is to promote increased yields along economic lines 

 by the further application of scientific knowledge and the adoption 

 of improved practices. The path of progress is pretty well charted 

 and the agricultural forces are moving along it with gratifying 

 speed. However, the maintenance of satisfactory increases necessi- 

 tates the continuance and enlargement of investigational work, par- 

 ticularly such as is required to insure fuller control of destructive 

 plant diseases and insect pests. 



FARM LAND PROBLE^MS. 



The Nation can further expand its output of commodities by culti- 

 vating the tillable land which at present is unused, estimated to be 

 over 60 per cent of the total. But there has been no such full consid- 

 eration of the policy which should be pursued in reference to the 

 extension of the farm area as has been given to economical production. 

 Since the Nation now retains but little land of ready availability, 

 agricultural expansion will result mainly from efforts to utilize 

 and to increase the productivity of farm lands now owned by indi- 

 viduals, corporations, and the States. 



A number of important questions must be answered: How rap- 

 idly should new areas be developed? What means should be em- 

 ployed to bring new lands into use, so that settlers may achieve suc- 

 cess, employ sound methods of husbandry, and establish a whole- 

 some community life? What is the significance of the increase of 

 tenancy and what may be done to establish a system of land tenure 

 which will insure good farming and a sound and democratic founda- 

 tion for American agriculture ? What is the bearing of the increas- 

 ing prices of land and the resulting speculation on the progress of 

 agriculture and the welfare of the farmer ? 



EXPANSION OF AREA IN FARMS. 



The expansion of the Nation's agriculture is limited by the supply 

 of labor and capital available for farming purposes rather than by 



