The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 203 



After two or three have thus sunk their little "wads" the third 



or fourth man comes alons:, and, building- on the foundation laid . o n * 



*" ' *= . for Some Past 



by the loss of capital of the others who preceded him, he may be Failures and 



able to stick and make a living, and if so, by and by, he develops Successes 

 a good farm and becomes a successful, prosperous man, because 

 the possibilities are there. I could take you into any cut-over land 

 section and show you men who have made a success on these 

 lands — show you substantial and prosperous farmers having 

 farms worth from $50 to $100 an acre, some perhaps who would 

 not take $100 an acre for their farms — built up from these cut- 

 over lands. But they purchased these lands for something like 

 what they were worth and on long credit. They paid, perhaps, 

 $2 or $3 — ^or at most $4 or $5 — an acre and while developing the 

 farms had work in the sawmills adjoining so that they were en- 

 abled to support their families, and they and their families worked 

 mornings, nights and holidays in clearing and in otherwise de- 

 veloping their land. In this way, after a few years their farms 

 were gotten into shape where they began to produce well and ^^^n ^y/^^/ gg 

 be real farms. But a settler today on cut-over land hasn't, as a nuilt Up 

 rule, the same chance. The opportunities for outside labor at re- 

 munerative prices are not frequent and for the most part the men 

 who purchase cut-over lands toda}^ have to depend on the land 

 itself or on surplus capital for a living from the start. 



Now you can't, as a rule, start on cut-over land without capi- 

 tal or without outside employment or help of some sort, and 

 make a living on it for the first year or two. Why ? I'ecause as 

 has been told you — and it is the truth — these lands are naturally 

 poor, some more so than others. They will grade from fair to 

 poor but practically all of them are deficient in the three things 

 that are essential for a fertile soil, that is, humus, or vegetable 

 matter, phosphorous and nitrogen. In addition to this the 

 mechanical condition of the soil is generally bad, so that it takes 

 careful farming with proper rotation of crops and the use of 

 legumes to build them up and it is not until after two or three 

 years of this kind of handling that they begin to produce well. 



As an offset to these disadvantages, on the other hand, is our 

 wonderful climate, good seasons, the great variety of crops we 

 can grow, including legumes or soil building crops, and the re- 

 sponsiveness of most of these soils to right treatment, the rapidity 

 with which they can be built up and made fertile. You take these 

 cut-over pine lands, particularly those soils with a deep red clay 



