162 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 814 



stock ranges. The following table shows a 

 rapid development from 1850 up to that 

 time, and gives the total farm acreage, the 

 improved farm acreage and the wheat 

 acreage for each census year that they were 

 determined, also the percentage each of 

 these comprises of the total land area.^ 



gether with the large tracts of railroad 

 lands sold to new settlers in recent years, 

 particularly in Kansas, Nebraska and Colo- 

 rado, it appears that at least 200,000,000 

 acres have been added to the farm area 

 since 1900. This would make the total 

 farm area for 1910 about 1,050,000,000 



Since 1900 there is no definite statement 

 of farm acreage. A fair estimate can be 

 made, however, for the present year. The 

 "yearly disposal of public lands for cash" 

 for the period 1900-1908 amounted to 164,- 

 159,599 acres. Practically all or nearly 

 all these lands go into farms.* Lands sim- 

 ilarly disposed of in Texas, according to 

 the reports of the commissioner of the 

 Texas general land office, amounted to 22,- 

 470,856 acres from September 1, 1900, to 

 August 31, 1908. Considering now the 

 later additions from these two sources, to- 



^The facts are taken from the Statistical Ab- 

 stract of the United States, pp. 119-121, except 

 wheat acreages, which are calculated as ten-year 

 averages from regular reports of the Bureau of 

 Statistics, U. S. Department of Agriculture. For 

 the census years of 1880, 1890 and 1900, averages 

 for the periods 1874-1883, 1884-1893 and 1894- 

 1903, respectively, are employed, and for 1870 the 

 average for the period 1866-1871, as the figures 

 for wheat acreage in this period do not go back 

 farther than 1866. 



'This sum is the acreage for 1866. 



* They include original homestead entries, as 

 much the larger portion, timber culture claims, 

 lands obtained with agricultural college and other 

 scrip and under military bounty land warrants, 

 and lands (a comparatively small amount) se- 

 lected by states and railroads. (See Statistical 

 Abstract of United States, pp. 24^25.) 



acres, or approximately 55 per cent, of the 

 total land area. If so, the increase is 

 greater than in any other decennial period 

 except the preceding, 1890-1900. 



The question then is, how much addi- 

 tional farm area may be expected in the 

 future. Certainly not a great deal, but I 

 believe much more than many suppose. 

 Again the amount may be estimated, but 

 this time more roughly, and the area may 

 not be fully occupied for many years. 



According to the Report of the General 

 Land Office for 1908, there were at that 

 time, exclusive of Alaska, 386,873,787 acres 

 of government lands "unappropriated and 

 unreserved." Though these lands include 

 all kinds, agricultural, grazing, mineral, 

 etc., surve.ys and estimates of state officials 

 make it probable that 75,000,000 to 100,- 

 000,000 acres will be included in farms. 

 There will be other additions from present 

 Indian reservations. At the close of the 

 fiscal year 1908 there were 52,013,000 acres 

 of Indian lands "unallotted and unre- 

 served," and these are generally better 

 than the usual run of western lands.' We 

 are apt to overlook also the large amount of 



' See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

 1908, pp. 149-164. 



