East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1914-01-13
NEWS OF FARM AND RANGE
MUCH T|LLABLE LAND
NOT BEING UTILIZED
ONLY 81 PER CENT NOW UNDER
CULTIVATION, SAY GOV
ERNMENT EXPERTS.
Department Estimates Nearly Billion
Acres Not Now Cultivatcd-ol Per
Cent Of land Not Fit for Use.

Only 81 per cent of the tillable land
of the United States is actually un-
der cultivation. according to esti-
mates of the department of agricul-
ture. based upon reports of $4,000
correspondents These reports were
obtained in order to gain Information
as to- the tillable area of the United
States; the amount of land that can
not be used for crops that have to be
plowed, but available for pasture or
fruits. and the total number of acres
that never can be used for agricultur-
al purposes From the returns. which
were generally very consistent. pre-
liminary estimates have been made
for each state and for the United
States. Further investigation in the
far western states may modify some-
what the present estimate for those
states.
The entire United States, excluding
foreign possessions. contains about l..
800. 100000 acres. OF this area
about so per cent or 1.l40.000 00e
acres is estimated to be tillable. that
is. capable of being brought under
cultivation by means of the plow.
This includes land already under such
cultivation and that which in the fu.
ture may be brought under cultiva.
ton by clearing, drainage, irrigation.
etc.
100000 acres or 10 per cent. are
estimated to be non-tillable but valu-
able for pasture or fruits. Only 81
per cent, or 399, 100000 acres was es-
timated to be of no use for agricul-
ture present or future
According to the census of 1909,
the land area in crops where acre
age was given was 31l 0O0,0 acres
This is about 16 per cent of the to.
tai land area or about 81 per cent
of the estimated potential tillable
age as given was 311,000,O0O acres
foreign possessions.
Oregon has 61 million acres OF
land. OF this amount SO per cent Is
titled; 32 per cent is classed as non.
titled agricultural land and 80 per
cent is non agricultural.
Farmers Creamery AssOciation-With
II members at the start. the Farm
ers' Creamery Association of the
Walla Walla valley was formed at
Fruitvale in eastern Umatilla coun-
| ty last week. Henry Eiffert is pres
ent of the company; II. A. Powell,
vice president. and Louis Hodgen,
secretary.
being made by farmers in the vicin-
! ity Of Madras, Crook county. to get
! together on plan of cooperating
about shipping cream and milk to
the creameries in that section.
North Powder Crcan-The North
( Powder News boasts that during the
were shipped out of that place. Con-
! verted into butter this cream brought
| the ranchers a total of s11.910.
Is Cents Per Acre Maintenance
! At meeting of the board of direc-
| tors of the klamath Waterusers' AS
sociation it was decided to charge a
sum of IL cents per acre as main
tenance charge during the year 1914.
|
Wind Dried Wheat I.and-The strong
winds that ensuei for several days,
ending last night, caused the ground
in the farming sections to lose much
| of its surface moisture. 1t has been
noticeable that dust has blown con
siderably during the last two days
However the wind has not been cold
and there are no reports Of any froz-
en- grain though 1t Is possible some
grain in exposed districts was blown
from the ground.
May Build New ROad-It is uos'
sible the reclamation service may
build a hard surface road from Una
tilla to the diversion dam above thai
place. says the Umatilla New Era
The road would be used for handling
the materials for the dam. but Incl
dentally the road would be link ir
hard surface highway from Una
tilla to Pendleton.