Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1909-03-04
THE VALUE OF LAND
VIII Go on Increasing in Favored LOCAL.
ties up to $40o and $500.

ties up to $4Oo and $500.
An Iowa man, r. T. Pilkington
argues that good farming land must
necessarily appreciate rapidly in
value in this county and that this ap
probation ia due to its producing
ability, and he says:
You have all heard the question
discussed pro and con that no farm is
worth 500 an acre for farming pur-
poses. Now the value Of an acre OF
land is just what it can be made to
produce and the amount of dollars it
can be made to pay interest on. We
even have renters who complain that
they cannot pay two to three dollars
an acre rent and make anything. We
know of land in this country that is
rented for $40 an acre, and there is a
tract Of sixty-three acres near Phila-
delphia that pays an annual rental of
$40 per acre and is run at profit.
Now land that rents for 50 an acre is
not very valuable, but land that rents
for $40 pays 8 per cent on $500 an
acre.
Now it all depends on the ways and
means employed to get out all there
is in an acre of land. ] have case
in mind now of a man and wife who
bought four acres of land, paying 1925
an acre for the same. These same
people are now actually making a
good living from this four acres and
putting away a little surplus every
year.
Now we will take an acre upon
most any farm, put it to corn, tend it
well and you can nearly always get
sixty bushels Of good corn, which at
forty cents q bushels IAN average
price, makes an income Of $24. Al
lowing $40 per acre for the growing
and harvesting of the crop, which is
very liberal figure, you have a net
income of s14 per acre; and on an 3
per cent basis pays the interest on
STA, which would be the value of
that acre Of land, this, too, without
figuring the value of the fodder. Still
further, we will take an acre of hay
land. Two tons to the acre is a very
moderate yield and can readily be
sold for SO a ton, which is S12. The
cost Of making is about $ per ton, or
~ per acre, leaving $40 net income
from an acre of hay land, which on an
8 per cent basis is the interest of 1928.
Besides you can pasture the land five
months, or cut a second crop or cut
clover for seed, making good interest
on at least $75 more, making the land
worth at least 5000 per acre. The
price of the land will always be gov
erned by what it can be made to pro-
duce, and as a country gets older land
becomes better titled, every article Of
growth is utilized and saved, and the
value of the land increases in proper
ton.
10 those people who are saying that
800 an acre is the top limit for farm
e.
land, ! want to make this prophecy,
that inside of twenty years it will be
a common thing for farms to sell at
5000 an acre, and it will be because
they are worth it and can be run at
profit at that figure. Improved meth
DDS Of farming, together with wide
diversity of interest with a careful
saving of everything raised, will bring
it about. Nor will it stop here but in
many cases it will go on increasing
in value in forced localities up to s4oO
and $500 an acre. To the homeless /
will say, get some land if even only
an acre, and you will have one of the
best legacies mankind was ever en-
doWed with.