The West 23 
government, but do not contribute a dollar for the sup- 
‘ port of the same. 
After the land is once under control, regardless of the 
method by which this result is obtained, improved methods 
of management may be expected. Deferred grazing will 
be practiced to improve the grass, while fencing will re- 
duce the cost of handling, lessen the amount of range re- 
quired, permit the use of better stock, and lastly give a 
permanence and stability which the industry does not 
now possess, 
CULTIVATED AREAS 
According to the latest available statistics put out by 
the United States Department of Agriculture in the 1915 
Yearbook, there are in the eleven states lying entirely 
within the region under discussion, a total of nineteen 
million acres of land actually in crop. The significance 
of these figures is shown by the fact that these eleven states 
comprise nearly one-half the total area of the United 
States, yet from the standpoint of cultivated lands, there 
are three states of the Union‘any one of which contains 
more land actually in crop than the entire eleven states 
of the West. For example, Kansas alone contains almost 
twenty million acres of land in crops, while Illinois and 
Towa each contain a little more than twenty million acres. 
The cultivated areas of the West are of three distinct 
classes: irrigated, dry-farm, and humid. The irrigated 
sections comprise small scattered valleys always of limited 
area. The chief crop in these irrigated valleys is alfalfa, 
although considerable grain is grown in some sections 
together with fruit of various kinds. These valleys are 
perhaps best known for their fruit production but from 
the standpoint of real importance, either as money or 
