PROGRESS IN RECLAMATION—BISSELL. 517 
tion above mentioned can be made suitable for colonization at reason- 
able price. I 
Those same States also contain many large areas in private owner- 
ship, but held at very moderate prices, which belong in the category 
of wet and cut-over lands, requiring drainage in some cases and 
clearing in nearly all cases. In some instances they have been under 
cultivation in the past, but have been abandoned for many years, or 
used for pasture only, and allowed to grow up in brush, which will 
require clearing. Most of such lands also require the addition of 
lime, the building of roads, and the opening of drainage outlets to 
permit the escape of excessive rainfall. 
NORTHERN DIVISION. 
The northern division comprises the area east of the Missouri 
River and north of the Ohio. The opportunities for settlement are 
abundant in most of these States, and especially so in the Lake 
States—Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—where vast areas of 
cut-over lands and lands needing drainage are found, and some of 
them were examined in detail. 
In several of the States of the Mississippi Valley where agricul- 
tural conditions are excellent the development has been so complete 
that only small areas of undeveloped lands have been found. Some 
of these are cut-over regions, some are naturally wet places needing 
drainage, and some are overflow lands which require levee protection 
and drainage works. These States, however, all contain consider- 
able areas in large ownerships, farmed by tenants, where results are 
unsatisfactory and are growing worse. Many of these offer favor- 
able opportunities for soldier settlements which will be nearly as 
beneficial to the country at large and as favorable for the soldier 
settlements as the reclaimed lands in other States. With proper 
local cooperation there is no doubt that favorable colonies can be 
established in all the States. 
In New York and Pennsylvania are considerable areas of good 
cut-over lands, some of which are adaptable to agriculture and very 
favorably situated for settlements.. The convenience of transporta- 
tion and the abundance of good markets near at hand give these 
regions important advantages over some others, and in New York 
are many areas requiring drainage which apparently will afford 
favorable locations for colonies. 
New England presents the extreme case of local need for agricul- 
ture. The present agricultural production of New England is but 
a fraction of what it was half a century ago, while the growth of 
population and of manufacturing industries makes a market which 
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