The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-17
The Farm of the Future

The possibilities of the vast agricl1l-
tural area of the United States. un-
Ger conditions which may exist two or
three centuries hence, when our pop
ulat1on shall have been many times
multiplied, may be reckoned by a COM
parison with the conditions already ex-
listing in France. The population of
that country is today approximately
3S,0OO,O0O. The area is about 100000
square miles. which makes the pop
ulation about 1856 to the square mile.
This area is 1890 square miles greater
than the two states of Wisconsin and
Montana. According to the crop CEN
sus Of 1896, France produced of wheat
alone 339, 3,OOO bushels, while the
yield of wheat throughout the entire
United States was only 10000, 900
bushels. This was equivalent to 1850
bushels per square mile in France and
1S7 bushels in this country; that is,
excluding Alaska from the national
area. In 1896 the volume of rye pro-
duced by France was So, 900 900 bushels:
of barley, 100000 bushels. and of
oats, 100000 bushels, as against a.
100000 bushels Of rye; Of barley, 76,-
o0O,00O bushels, and Of oats, 657, 900, 900
bushels produced in the United States.
The wonderful recuperative power
Of France from political and industrial
disaster is frequently referred to in
connection with the payment of her
debt as the result of the war with
Germany in 1901. That power was
only rendered possible through the
closeness Of her population to the soil,
The farms Of that country rarely ex-
ceed an area Of twenty acres, and a
large majority Of them are much
smaller. AS a consequence, the soil is
thoroughly titled, its maximum Of fer
tility is secured through care and Ia
Dor, and the products, as a rule. so
compensatory.
The people of the United States have
become used to view the land on so
large a scale that there is a tendency
to scorn the smaller areas and to false
ly measure their possibilities for profit
making. The greater the population,
the greater is the consuming power.
While the densely populated cities
must look to the tillers Of the soil for
their produce, the time will come when
the surplus which goes to make I'D
those overcrowded communities must
of necessity turn to the soil for their
own support. Indeed, that condition
already exists. Meanwhile there is a
disposition on the part of men Dos
sessed Of the agricultural instinct to
absorb larger tracts Of land than they
can proftably care for. This Is an
error which has resulted in making so
many poor farmers and caused so
much discomfort among this class par
ticularly in the West The correction
Of that evil rests primarily with them
selves The 160-acre tract Is well
enough for the man who can utilize
1t, but where two or even four men
can do equally well in caring for the
whole and securing it's highest produc-
tive power, is 1t not the part of wis
dom that the land should thus be di-
vided up into 80 or 40-acre tracts?
In the early eighties very rich man
acquired about $4,000 acres in one tract
in one Of the then Western territories.
He undertook the cultivation Of it on a
large scale, beginning with the breaking
Of 5000 acres. He worked his land sue
cessfully for several years, when he
paused to reflect upon the situation.
He was possessed Of q great estate, but