318 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



land where there is not enough ; stones will be carried away ; and 

 stumps will be torn out. Land which is now thought to be too 

 sandy or too gravelly will be brought into use by new scientific 

 methods. Land which is now thought to be worn-out will be 

 brought into bearing again. Some land which is now in forests 

 will be used for agricultural purposes. In these and various 

 other ways the agricultural area will expand during the twenti- 

 eth century. But this expansion, when compared with the move- 

 ment of the last century, will be of a different kind, and it will be 

 small, indeed will be insignificant. The change in methods of 

 farming, however, may be greater during the present century than 

 during the last. 



In proof of the above statement I wish to submit briefly some 

 of the statistics gathered at the Census of 19 10 and compare 

 them with those gathered at the Census of 1900. The increase 

 in acreage of land in farms during the decade amounted to only 

 4.8 per cent. The increase averaged approximately 4,000,000 

 acres per year. On the other hand, the increase during the thirty 

 years before 1900 was almost 15,000,000 acres per year. This 

 statement in itself is sufficient evidence of the fact that the high 

 tide was reached before the close of the last century, and that the 

 expansion since 1900 has been and doubtless will continue to be 

 comparatively small. 



Before leaving this phase of the subject attention should be 

 called to the fact that although the movement doubtless will be 

 slow, there is room for it to continue over a long period of time, 

 depending on the needs of the people, scientific progress, and in- 

 itiative displayed. Although the movement during the last century 

 was rapid, only 44.1 per cent of the land area of continental 

 United States was actually included in farms in 1900. In 1910 

 this had increased to only 46.2 per cent. Thus, between 1900 

 and 19 10, 2.1 per cent of the entire land area of the country was 

 brought into farms. By quoting these figures I do not mean to 

 leave the impression that all of the other 53.8 per cent can ever 

 be brought into farms. This represents the land in mines, the 

 mountain areas, the land occupied by cities, towns, and villages, 

 the railroad rights of way, the public highways, deserts, swamps, 



