160 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



eral Means 

 for Present 

 Utilization 



most heartily agree with those speakers who have said that these 

 lands must necessarily be utilized for some time yet to come, 

 in the main, for the production of live stock. I want also to 

 make a distinction between some of the statements, if made 

 literally, regarding grazing and farming. I am of the opinion 

 that the extensive use of cut-over lands for purely grazing or 

 ranching purposes, uncombined with farming, is not the correct 

 line for the utilization of these lands. I believe the system which 

 Live Stock will bring them into use most rapidly is a system of moderate- 

 tlie Best Gen- sized farms, where there will be a system of crop production, and 

 especially forage, and grain production, combined with stock 

 raising ; and, on the other hand, I do not think we are right in the 

 reduction of the size of these farms to the small farm to which 

 some speakers have referred; and more especially, in the remote 

 sections, of their reduction to 10, 15, 20 and 40 acre farms, where 

 such intensive things as vegetable gardens, or even dairying, 

 cannot be carried on successfully until the country is more de- 

 veloped. I think a happy medium between the two is what we 

 should seek. 



Now, as to the class of live stock production, I would always 

 regard that as being a secondary question. The first question 

 is : What will the lands produce and what can the farmer make 

 them produce after he has them under his control, in addition 

 to what they are already producing in their natural state? The 

 confusion which seems to exist in the minds of a great many 

 here as to the carrying capacity of these lands, for example, I 

 think is so great that a few words on that may help to clarify the 

 atmosphere. I believe one man said 1700 acres did not support 

 130 head ; others have said that after putting as many as one 

 Different Sec- animal to two or three acres they did not graze off the forage 

 tions Produce crops close enough to suit them; and we have had all kinds of 

 Different Re- variations, from some who said it takes 5, or yyi, or 10 or 20 

 suits acres to carry a cow or cow and calf. ;The reason for this con- 



fusion, in my opinion, is the fact that one man is speaking of these 

 lands under one condition and others under another. The same 

 lands will vary very widely at different seasons, and from others 

 under different conditions. We want to think of these lands in 

 terms of carrying capacity of cattle — they have a rather high 

 carrying capacity in proportion to the number of plants that 

 grow and the fertility of the soil. They have a lesser carrying 

 capacity in the early spring and late summer, and in the late fall 



