The San Francisco call., 1910-03-26
BRIOtITFUTUREfOR
CALIFORNIA FARMS
Figures Show Great Increase
in Value During the Last
Ten Years

The showing that the western states
are making along the lines of farm de-
velopment has recently been reduced to
figures. These figures show that
100000 new farms have been created
in the United States in the last 10
years and that while the increase in
the western states has been about loo
per cent the balance of the country
avera ges less than IL per cent. In
the north Atlantic states the increase
figures per cent, south Atlantic states
8 per cent, north central states 15 per
cent. south central states II per cent
and western states 100 per cent.
The unprecedented increase in the
value of these lands and the livestock
contained upon them is even more inter-
esting. This increase of valuation av-
erages A. per cent. The western states,
averaging 9S per cent increase, top the
list and the north Atlantic states with
Is per cent increase stand at the bot
tom of the list.
.At first sight these figures are sur
prising," said ]. E. Green, manager of
the country lands department of Bald
win & Howell. but when you consider
the millions of dollars that have been
put into the irrigation and the de-
velopment of these western lands you
look at it in a little fairer light. 1t
is probably true that our western lands
have. doubled in value in the last 10
years and it is likely that they will
again double by 1915, but it has been
money, endless work, tireless energy,
experience in development and seien-
tific farming that have made the in
crease possible. There are thousands
of ranches in California that are worth
no more today nor even as much as
they were 10 years ago, but there are
thousands of little farms that are
worth more, some of them five or six
times as much as they were worth in
1899. 1t is the small farmer, who has
purchased hfs 10 or 20 acres from some
big land owner, who has made these
statistics possible.
by the same report quoted you will
find that the value of our western farm
products increased 211 per cent in the
last 10 years. which clearly proves my
contention that it is the small farm
that has gone UP in value, and not the
great tracts comprising hundreds of
acres, where no greater crops are raised
today than were raised 10 years ago.
Crops are what make farm lands valu-
able, and. the man who makes crops
grow is the man who ought to and does
make the money out of increased valu-
atfons. A field of 1000 acres, producing
10000 bushels of wheat at a cost of 80
cents a bushel is worth practically The
same ana no more per acre as long as
it produces a crop of this size.
But irrigate that field, populate it
with 200 energetic, practical truck
farmers with five acres each and you
have a valuable property that has in
creased in value a great many times
over. 1t was the man who developed
it, who put hundreds of thousands of
dollars into irrigation bitches, who
knew how to subdivide and sell in a
retail way, who made it valuable, and
as long as there is plenty of other
available land the owner of any ajjoin-
ing wheat field without irrigation is
but little better off unless he himself
has the money and experience to do
what the development people have done.
There are millions of acres of good
availa BILE lands in the west, and this
fact is becoming evident to some of
the biggest operators in Europe and
America with the result that-enormous-
ly rich companies are being formed to
exploit this territory and turn the large
areas into small farms We are wait
and are looking into some very i'm
portant propositions. Almost every day
we receive letters of inquiry from some
of the operators and before summer is
over we expect to put through some |
big deals in California land. However.
present owners must list their prop
critics at the right prices, for these |
people are experienced men, and al |
though they are quick buyers they I
know values SO we'll and have so much I
to choose from that they seldom even t
express an interest in anything unless /
t is at the rock bottom price,