76 BULLETIN" 393, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



fact in connection with the road improvement was that about 83 

 per cent of the tax for the pajonent of interest on bonds in Beat No. 1 

 is paid by the city of Meridian, although none of the roads are located 

 within the corporate limits. 



Personal investigation as to the effect of the road improvement on 

 land values brought out many specific incidents of increases in values 

 from 50 to 500 per cent coincident with the improvement of the roads. 

 Lands 5 miles out from Meridian that were held at from $15 to $20 

 per acre before the roads were improved sold after the roads were 

 improved for $50 per acre. For the purpose of illustrating more 

 specifically the remarkable effect of the road improvement on property 

 values, the following examples were selected on a single road leading 

 out from Meridian: 



A tract 4^ miles from Meridian, containing 40 acres, cost $1,000 

 in 1911, and in March, 1912, was sold for $1,900. 



A tract containing 13 acres cost $1,000 in February, 1911, and 

 was sold in 'the same year, after the road work had begun, for $2,000. 



A tract containing 20 acres, 4 miles from Meridian, cost $500 in 

 1907; 13 acres sold in 1912 for $1,500. 



An estate 4 miles from Meridian, containing 40 acres, was pur- 

 chased in 1908 for $400. It was sold in 1911 for $1,700 after con- 

 struction started, and was estimated to have been worth $2,500 in 

 1912. 



A farm 5 miles from Meridian, containing 120 acres, was bought in 

 1907 for $900, and was sold in 1912 for $4,200. 



A farm 4J miles from Meridian, containing 200 acres, was esti- 

 mated to have been worth $5,000 in 1911, but after the road was 

 completed the owner refused an offer of $9,500. 



A farm 4 miles from Meridian, containing 40 acres, was sold in 

 1910 for $2,500; in 1912 the owner refused $4,500. 



The total of 473 acres in these tracts before the roads were im- 

 proved was $11,300, or an average of $23.89 per acre, while after 

 the roads were improved the total value was $26,100, or $55.18 per 

 acre, an average increase of $31.29 per acre, or 131 per cent. Many 

 small tracts of land, 2 or 3 miles from Meridian on the Poplar 

 Springs Road, have sold, since the road was improved, for from $100 

 to $3,000 per acre. This property was all in farms before the road 

 was improved and could have been bought for from $20 to $50 per 

 acre. For 3 miles out this road is now lined with magnificent sub- 

 urban homes. 



Estimates of local men versed in real-estate values give the increase 

 in land value, on account of improved roads, at from 25 to 50 per 

 cent. According to the United States census of 1910, the average 

 value of all farm land in Lauderdale County was about $10 per acre. 



