58 THE AFFAIRS OF THE FARM 



cities, increasing demands were made upon the farm. But 

 fanning in America was on an unscientific basis, ill-pre- 

 pared to meet all the new demand. 



This was partly due, perhaps, to the ease with which 

 land was acquired. Most of the farm land in the central 

 and western sections of our country was originally sold by 

 the government very cheap, or even given away to settlers. 

 In 1800, the government began to sell quarter-sections 

 (160 acres) at $2 an acre, taking one fourth in cash 

 and giving credit for the rest. This system led to a 

 wild rush to the new lands, and the long lines of would-be 

 buyers before the doors of the government land offices 

 gave rise to the expression "doing a land-office business." 

 In 1820, the government stopped giving credit, but began 

 to sell eighties (80 acres) at $1.25 an acre. Then in 1862, 

 under the Homestead Law, it began to give land, in 160- 

 acre tracts, to any settler who would improve it and live 

 upon it a certain length of time. 



This generous policy of the nation in regard to its 

 public lands had many good results ; but it had at least 

 one bad result. It encouraged careless and unscientific 

 cultivation. Farming on these easily acquired lands was 

 carried on in a very primitive way. Stock raising was 

 little more than herding on the open range. Even for the 

 tiller of the soil, plowing, sowing, and harvesting made 

 up the whole business. The waste of the soil was tre- 

 mendous, and the soil is our most valuable national re- 

 source. It is partly because of these old, destructive 

 methods of agriculture that the people of the United 

 States are now facing a rapid increase in the cost of farm 

 produce, and that some thinkers fear lest the food supply 

 will not keep pace with our growing population. 



Science is now laying the foundation for better and less 

 wasteful farming. Chemistry teaches the scientific feed- 



