Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-10-21
Are You Land Poor?

Land poor!' is a common eXclama-
observed trying to spread their indi-
vidual efforts over many acres. and
bringing forth scanty poor and unsat-
isfactory returns. successful Som
erset county farmer used 10 speak of
a slovenly neighbor in disgust as
soldering over four times as much
ground as he can farm"
We have no doubt that many farm
ers would be better off with 20 acres
than with 100. But here is the other
extreme described by the Christian
Science Monitor as follows:
out in the valley of San Ysidro
near San Diego, Cal, is a colony Of
Littlelanders, so-cRlled because one
acre to the familysis the usual allot-
ment. There are twenty families in
the settlement Some of the families
are large and grown, but there is plen-
" to do for every worker in the house
hold. The Craftsman has been inquir-
ing into the activities of the colony. 1t
to satisfactory degree On one acre
10000 heads of lettuce have been raised.
ON another a Chicago bookkeeper who
could not make both ends meet on a
salary OF $25 week supports his fam
lily nicely and has a surplus annually
of from 5000 to $500. In most cases
practically all the food consumed
ducks, turkeys chickens, eggs, vegeta-
bles. fruits-is raised on the acre lot;
the surplus products are readily dis
posed of at a good price in the neigh
boring city. The neighborng city, by
the way, is an essential accompani-
ment to the successful acre farm.
1T must be taken into consideration
that the valley of San Ysidro and the
colony of the Littlelanders are situated
in a part of the world where the soil
produces all the year round. The
statement, therefore, that no living
man is capable of producing from one
acre out there all that the acre is
capable of yielding, does not upset
Bolton Halls theory that three acres
is the minimum tract from which a
man might be able to support himself
and family. Roughly speaking. three
acres of fair land in the East, South or
middle West will produce equal to one
acre in southern California. But put it
at four, so as to allow a reasonable
margin. Now, if man may do better
for himself and family on four acres OF
land then he can on a city salary of
| $25 4 week, it would seem as if oppor-
| tunity were actually stepping on the
| heels of hundreds of thousands of
| American teilers.
| Moreover, if it is a factor if it
| 9pproximates to a fact-that no man
can possibly extract from four acres of
| land all that they are capable under
| cultivation of producing, then the
| farming possibilities OF the United
| states, instead of growing smaller,
have been multiplied in these recent
| years many times over by increased
| knowledge of agriculture. 1t has long
been recognized that the 240 and 100
and even the eighty and the forty-a acre
| farms are in most instances, eXtraVa-
gances. 1t has been held for as long a
time that if Americans would cult
vate ten acres sldlfully they would get
| a larger return on their labor thar
| they obtain from the unskilful cuiti-
cation of 100-acre tracts. But now the
| 'i'iNdSt - ituuteu 10 lpuf, pIoNldi
one seeks no more than a comfortable
living from ones own labor off thu
soil.
Not all can make a good living on :
California acre or on four acres else
where. but not all make a good livini
on 100 acres Not all city worker
should venture upon farming. Thous
ands who are possessed of the qualifi
cations necessary to successful cult
walton Of the soil, however. find them
: selves year in and year out in the pc
| sition Of the Chicago bookkeeper refer