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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photo from U. S. Forest Service 

 REDWOOD CUT ON VANCE'S PROPERTY, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 



Sweden and Norway, situated in an un- 

 favorable climate and with a scanty pop- 

 ulation (29 and 18 persons per square 

 mile, respectively), the proportion of 

 arable land is 8.7 per cent and 1.3 per 

 cent, respectively. 



OUR NATURAE RANGES WIEE REMAIN THE 

 SAME, BUT THEIR PRODUCTIVENESS 

 WIEE BE VASTLY INCREASED 



Land chiefly valuable for grazing will 

 form about one-fifth of the extent of the 

 United States proper. This land origi- 

 nally lay west of the one hundredth me- 

 ridian, in the plains and mountain val- 

 leys, but with the advance of dry farm- 

 ing its eastern boundary has been shifted 

 farther west to about the one hundred 

 and third meridian. This land receives 

 but a scanty rainfall and can produce 

 neither forest nor field crop, but sup- 

 ports a vegetation of hardy grasses. It 

 was formerly the natural range of mil- 



lions of buffalo and is now the grazing 

 ground of herds of cattle and sheep. 

 This land will remain largely a natural 

 range, since the area which can be irri- 

 gated, and thus reclaimed for agricultural 

 purposes, or which can even be used for 

 dry farming, is comparatively small. 



According to government estimates, 

 the available water will be sufficient to 

 irrigate 71,000,000 acres, or 1 acre in 7^2 

 of the entire region. The Reclamation 

 Service, however, does not expect to re- 

 claim more than 5 per cent of all the arid 

 land. This area, together with that used 

 for dry farming, will barely suffice to 

 counterbalance the reduction of the pro- 

 ductive area in the United States through 

 the growth of cities, the building of rail- 

 roads, and the general development of 

 commerce and non-agricultural industry. 

 The possibilities for increasing the pro- 

 ductiveness of the 300,000,000 acres of 

 our public grazing land are very great. 



