The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-04-26
Scientific Farming in The West.

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has been a reduction in the size of
the farms in the past decade. Mon
tana furnishes striking example of
this drift in the direction of inten-
sive agriculture. While the average
size of the farms in that state in
1900 was ga acres, it had dropped
to $50 acres in 1910. This insures
better cultivation and far better
crops. With the increased knowl-
edge and zeal in farming the smaller
number of acres yield much greater
returns than did the larger number.
In population Montana increased 81
per cent in the decade, but it's out
put in agriculture expanded in a
much larger proportion. The same
is true of practically all of the agri
cultural states, excepting that the
increased value of products in many
of them, compared with the growth
in population, was far greater than.
it was in Montana. While Missouri
increased in inhabitants only per
cent between 1900 and 1910, and
Iowa fell off slightly, the value of
the products of the farms Of those
states, broadly speaking, doubled in
the decade.
1t must be remembered, too, that
in nearly all the western states, espe-
cially in those of the trans-Mississip-
times the present population. One
reason for the slow growth OF inhabi-
tants in Missouri in the past ten
years, and for the decrease in Iowa,
is that many farmers sold their high
priced holding there and took up
r west. AS consequence
the growth in population in the ten
years was 48 per cent for Colorado,
81 per cent for Montana, 60 per cent
for California, 81 per cent for Ore
gon, sc per cent for Arizona, 81 per
cent for Oklahoma, 12O per cent for
North Dakota, SO per cent for New
ada, 101 per cent for Idaho, 100 per
cent for New Mexico, 80 per cent
for Washington. And the fertility
and the vast vacant spaces of those
states would permit growth in
like ratio for several decades. With
their largely increased number of
people, the average of the COM
fort and prosperity of each of those
states is increasing.
Men bring greater skill to the pur-
suit OF agriculture than they did for.
merly, and this is the chief reason
why the general level in the conven-
fences of life has risen so high in
the west in the past two or three
decades. Under the operation of the
acts of congress Of 1862 and 1890
agricultural colleges have been estab-
lished in all the states and terri
tories. Over seventy of those insti-
tutions are in existence. Experiment
stations run by the government are
in operation in all the western states.
Agriculture in the United States is
becoming one of the learned profess
sions. The old go-as-you-please
style of cultivating the soil has gone
out of vogue and scientific methods
have taken its place. The govern
ment at Washington is spending mil
lions of dollars each year for the
benefit of the farmers of the coun-
try. The capabilities of the soil are
better known than formerly, and
there is far more intelligence in cul-
tivation. Irrigation is doing great
work for the region between the
Missouri and the Pacific. Where ir-
rigation has not yet appeared dry
farming is revealing powers unsus-
steadily increasing degree the farmer
is becoming emancipated from his
old time dependence upon the ele
ments. Here are some OF the rea-
sons why, in the matter of food
production, the United States is like
ly to be self-supporting for genera
lions to come. The rewards are in
creasing so fast that agriculture has
attractions of which nobody dreamed,
a quarter of century ago. For
more than a decade and half past
nobody has heard of any corn burn
ing for fuel The farmer sells his
grain for high prices, and he has
enough margin not only to buy coal
but to have pianos, automobiles and
libraries. His children are receiving
better education than formerly, and
he and they wear better clothes, live
in better houses, and have more of
the comforts of life than they did
in the past. The beneficent activities
of the department of agriculture at
Washington have expanded in large
measures in the past dozen years.
This is "naternaliSm i'm government