26 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Transporta- 

 tion Facilities 

 Vital Factor 

 in Type of 

 Crops Grown 



Cut-Over 

 Lands Ideal 

 for Pasturage 



Live Stock 

 Farms Must 

 Be of Proper 

 Size 



will you get your perishable products to the market? That 

 brings up the question of to what extent may we utilize these 

 cut-over lands, far distant from railroads, for the production of 

 more intensive crops? Naturally, the utilization of lands for 

 this purpose is limited. 



As to the adapted agricultural products, very briefly, it 

 seems to me that the type of utilization which will be most 

 profitable for these cut-over lands is live stock. In the first 

 place, there are two or three things which lead to that conclusion. 

 The average cut-over land is what might be called of medium to 

 low fertility. The fertility, as a rule, is not high, although I 

 have seen some that were in a very good state of fertility ; but 

 the average is rather a low state of fertility. That means that 

 if you try to produce food crops or any other kind you will have 

 to fertilize highly or set aside a period of years during which to 

 build up your soil, and that will increase the cost of producing 

 your crops and is going to make the production of certain crops 

 unprofitable. 



In the second place, these lands are cheap. The grasses are 

 fairly good, lespedeza is coming in, and the pasture possibilities 

 of these lands seem to be almost unlimited ; and on the rolHng 

 lands the sod tends to hold the soil. You have a natural utiliza- 

 tion there by nature's work, and you should utilize that pasture 

 in some way. 



I have recently come from the West, and we find that hun- 

 dreds of thousands of cattle are being raised on cheap pasture 

 — what is known as the range system ; and the only reason we 

 can do that is because we have an abundance of this cheap pas- 

 ture and we can afford to let our cows graze over this pasture 

 and virtually take care of themselves and raise their calves ; and 

 then these animals, when they are large enough, are shipped to 

 the richer lands for fattening for the market. That seems to be 

 the most common and natural utilization of this cut-over land. 

 Another thing: The need for more beef cattle is an increasing 

 one, and if these lands are available in large areas, and are cheap 

 and adapted to pasture crops, that should encourage the influx of 

 large cattle owners who can operate on a big scale, and they can 

 produce feeders more economically than some of the small men. 

 That doesn't mean there is no place for the smaller live stock 

 farmer, because I believe there is. One point there: When you 

 try to induce the farmer to practice live stock raising, you should 



