The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1915-12-09

For
acts also became the property Of lum-
ber firms through purchase. The
land itself at that time was considered
of little value and was usually in
cluded in the sale of the timber to
the logger The lOggers, as rule
sold the land as soon as the timber
had been cut and removed, to real
estate firms at very small price
ranging from one to six dollars pei
acre. These real estate firms or land
companies have since and are still
parcelling out these tracts to indi-
vidual purchasers, many of whom
we regret to say, have no intention
of making these lands their homes
nor improving them in any way, the
purchase being merely as a specula-
tive venture, the success of which be-
ing entirely dependent upon an un.
earned increment, or, in other words,
upon the increased value Of the land,
due to no act on the part Of these
spectators, but on the other hand
due to improvements made by actual
settlers in the form of roads, land
clearing and other improvements.
This also holds true with the lands
still owned by the state. The un-
earned increment is at once a boon
and a bane, a boon to him who has
much and works not and bane ia
him who works and has little. It
is this burden of land speculation
this custom of holding land with no
intention of improving it that clogs
the wheels of development in North
ern Minnesota.
Is Per Cent in Farms.
Let us see to what extent this is
true. From the last United States
census we find that of the 20,993,12O
acres of land in the nineteen counties
by this association only
fifteen per cent is in farms and but
four and six-tenths acres out of every
one hundred acres are improved. Only
six out Of these nineteen counties
have more than ten acres of land im-
proved out of every hundred, all the
others having less. Six have less
than one acre improved in every hun
dred. These counties are Carlton,
St. Louis, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake
and Cook Beltrami county has one
and four-tenths acres improved for
every hundred. What Northern Min
nesota needs more than any other
thing is one hundred thousand more
actual settlers. We care not of what
nationality or creed. One hundred
thousand men with families who want
farm homes.
Have Millions of Acres.
What have we to offer them? We
have ten million acres of land "A
hundred acres for each, good soil
ample rainfall for all farm crops with
no extremes Of heat or storms, a
health-giving climate to man and
live stock throughout the year, an
abundance of pure cold water tc
drink, a market for farm products un.
excelled, and for their children We
have the best school system in Am.
erica.
Our crop records prove the produc.
tivity of our soil and emphasizes, thu
wisdom of further development. Al
the North Central Experiment Sta
tion at Grand Rapids, situated in the
heart of this undeveloped region, on
land that was formerly pine forest
the average crop yields for five years
ending with the crop of 1914 are as
follows: Oats, So bushels per acre;
barley 38.6; wheat I'LL, and pota.
toes 289. Rutabagas, 16 tons per
acre; fodder corn, 10, and clover
and timothy 2.6 tons per acre in one
cutting. The yields this year have
been above the averages, except fol
corn and potatoes, and are as fol.
lows: Wheat, average for thirteen
varieties, 26.S bushels per acre; oats
average for twelve varieties, 92.s
h Williams Doesn't. Last