The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-05-19
INQUIRE !, RELATES T
!, SETTLER PROBLEMS
Head of Experimental Farm Says SEQ
ton Not Undergoing Boom, But
Opportunities Are Attractions.
TOO MUCH LAND IS MISTAKE

Advises That Farmer With Limited
Amount of Money Should Figure
on Building and Clearing.
ut would hardly be appropriate
to say there is boom on in north
ern Minnesota" says A. j. Mcclure,
superintendent of the Grand Rapids
Experimental farm, 'Ffor this usually
signifies a state of activity that is
unwarranted and not of a permanent
character, but the interest in and
movement for farms in the timbered
section has taken in a strong and
healthy increase. -~.. -
'In boom men commonly pur-
chase something they do not actually
need and something that is greatly
exaggerated in valuation. The de-
sire to buy becomes contagious and
sideration.
Ample Rainfall.
Fertile land in location of ample
rainfall and tributary to roads and
markets, and at a price within it's
actual valuation, is always a good in
vestment for one who will settle. IN
the land and work it. Northern
Minnesota has this and it has ample
rainfall and good markets and good
roads in many sections, but it is still
new country in development and
has much territory without roads
and long distances from local mar
ket. The speculator may buy any
where, but the settler, the man who
buys to build up a farm should, be
careful in picking out a location.
What Northern Minnesota needs is
farmers, not spectators, and it IS
to the interest of Northern Mime
sofa that every settler, in so far as
possible, locate on a tract Of land
that is we'll adapted to agriculture
and from which he can market his
products. -
''The character of the land and the
accessibility to road and market, are
the first and most important prob
lens that the new settler has to con
slider in his selection. 1t is not
necessary to buy a farm of hills in
Northern Minnesota, or one that has
to be drained before operations can
begin. There is plenty of good land
we'll located.
A Stumbling Block.
''The amount to purchase has been
a stumbling block to a great many.
1T is serious mistake for one to put
all ones capital into land and have
little or nothing for it's development.
For man with small capital and no
help in the way of grown boys, forty
acres of land is plenty, and to buy
over eighty under such circumstances
is serious mistake. A forty-acre
farm, with about twenty acres under
the plow and the balance in pasture,
may be made to bring cash income
of $1,000 a year and over, and to
work this we'll as it should he under
a system of dairy farming with pota-
toes as the field market crop, will
give one all he can do and good
deal more than many men want to
do who drag along with three or four
times that amount. The new settler
should not burden himself with land
that he does not need and that he
cannot use to advantage. It should
be remembered that conditions are.
different than on the prairie and
what might seem like small farm
there where grain is the marketed
crop, might be altogether too large
in the timbered section.
- Not Too Much Stock.
TOO much stock is often mistake
of the new settler. Remember. that
the land must be cleared, with but
few exceptions, before feed can be
produced. A lot of stock on hand
and feed to buy is a mighty discour-
aging matter. A good team of horses,
a couple of good dairy cows, a brood
SOW and twenty-five hens is plenty
of livestock to bring in, unless some
land has been cleared up in advance,
and it is mighty good idea to get
some land cleared in advance if pos
sible. .-
! Zone should plan to have sufficient
! capital to enable him to spend good
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