NEED FOR HOME BUILDERS IN THE GREAT PLAINS. 



39 



OPPORTUNITY FOR FARMERS IN THE GREAT PLAINS. 



The Great Plains is not a region where a farmer should expect to 

 make large profits with a small investment if he is to confine his opera- 

 tions to his own lands. Large profits have been made, but in most 

 cases they have been the result either of speculating in lands or of run- 

 ning cattle on free grass. More capital is needed to start to advantage 

 than in a more humid section, because there is more danger of failure. 

 One must often wait till the second year before he has any certainty 

 of a profitable crop, for it takes a full season to get land in shape for 

 a good crop of w^heat. If the season is unusually favorable the spring 

 crops may be very profitable, but the risk in depending on them is 

 great. Spring or early summer breaking is almost equal to summer- 

 tilled land for small grain if the land has not grown many w^eeds. 



No man should go empty handed into this country, but many men 

 with limited means w^ho are willing to endure some privations will be 

 able to secure a foothold and establish homes. We are often asked 

 how much capital is necessary and whether the land is too high priced. 

 Obviously, these are questions which the individual must answer for 

 himself. In the Great Plains, as anywhere else, it is not necessary 

 that one have sufficient capital to enable him to start free from debt. 

 In general, we may say that in our opinion from $6,000 to $8,000 

 should buy enough land to support a family of average size, and that 

 where it is mainly a stock proposition $50 should buy enough land to 

 pasture one cow. It is evident that one can not afford to pay $10 

 an acre for land where 4 square miles are required to give one 

 family a moderate support. By comparing these statements with 

 those concerning the necessary size of the farm, the reader may draw 

 his own conclusions. 



No man should think of "dry farming" by what are generally con- 

 sidered improved methods as an indifferent or lazy man's job. Dry 

 farming, to be successful and permanent, is necessarily good farming. 

 The indifferent farmer will get a few good crops, many poor ones, 

 and many almost complete failures. The man who has failed in a 

 more humid region should not expect to succeed in the Great Plains. 

 In a humid region any kind of cultivation is almost sure to bring some 

 kind of crop, but not so in the dry country. It is only the best and 

 most systematic farming that can be expected to give even mod- 

 erate returns in unfavorable seasons, and in some seasons even this 

 will fail. 



That there will be many failures among the settlers now locating 

 in the drier parts of the region goes without saying. In many places 

 inexperienced men are crowding in too thickly and are expecting to 

 make a living on far too small an area. They are trying to farm by 



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