Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-10-10
Waste Land Expensive.
NoNPRoDUcT1vE ACRES REPRESENT
DEAD CAPITAL AND ARE A LOSS TO
THE FARMER.
Department News letter.

THE FARMER.
Department News letter.
Every acre of non-producing tillable
land should be put to work or sold, says
a new publication of the department,
Farmers Bulletin 745. Many farmers
would make more money if their busi-
ness were larger, but the size Of farm
from financial standpoint, is measured
not by the number of acres embraced in
it but by the number that are producing
crops, pasturing animals economically,
or supporting growth of marketable
are loafer acres, and the money tied up
in them is dead capital.
On every farm, however, there are GER
tain areas necessarily devoted to nom
productive purposes. Fences, bitches,
lanes, and building lots produce nothing
themselves, but they are frequently es-
sential to production on the rest of the
farm. Nevertheless, they may occupy
in the aggregate considerable percent
age of the available land. 1t Is part of
efficient farm management to see to it
that this percentage Is no higher than
necessary.
In this connection, some interesting
figures are given by the bulletin already
mentioned in regard to the amount OF
land occupied by fences of different
kinds. 1t takes. for instance, only 200
rods of untrimmed hedge and only 2l4
rods of zigzag rail or worm fence to
waste an acre of what might be produc-
tive land. For the same expenditure of
land one can run 459 rods of woven wire
and Ats rods of barbed wire. Other con-
siderations, of course, may make it de-
sirable to use the hedge or the worm
fence, but the waste involved is factor
that should not be overlooked.
Similarly, farm lanes often may be
eliminated by a simple rearrangement
of fields; headlands, or turning spaces at
the edges of fields, avoided; and the
farm itself-the group of farm buildings
with their lots and yards, the garden,
and the orchard-made compact. In
the case OF the farmstead, however, con.
siderations of health and attractiveness
may well justify slight sacrifice OF
economy.
While little planning often will re-
suit in the saving of much land now de-
voted to these unproductive uses, more
difficult problem is presented by waste
land-land that is rendered untillable by
swamps, ravines, rocks, slopes, ETC.,
woodland that produces nothing salable,
and pastures that are too poor to be
profitable. Some areas are, OF course,
hopeless, and in that case they should be
left out of the reckoning altogether. Be-
fore this is done, however, it will pay to
look into the possibilities OF profitable
reclamation. Many untillable fields, for
example, may be turned into productive
pastures, or if they will not grow enough
grass to make this economical, they can
be used for the production of timber.
On the other hand, 1t frequently happens
that woodlots which yield nothing but a
little firewood for home consumption are
permitted to occupy valuable land. In
deciding whether such lots should be
cleared and titled, the cost Of clearing,
the increased value of the cleared land,
the interest on the investment, the sal
able value of the timber products, and
the added expense for firewood which
will follow the disappearance OF the tim
ber must all be taken into account. With
unwooded areas, the advisability of
bringing them under the plow may be
determined by comparing the probable
cost with the market price of good arabic
land in the neighborhood.
Obviously, the higher the price OF land
rises the more incentive there is for the
farmer to avoid waste in the utilization
of It. 1t is significant, however, that
the Investigations of the department
have shown that, irrespective OF the
price, tenants put greater part OF the
land to productive use than owners. The
tenant paws rent for each acre and be
cannot afford to have any of them idle.
On the other hand, the man who has no
rent to pay may be able to get along on the
produce of part only OF his farm, ana
be is, therefore, more likely to overlook
the potential value OF the part be wastes.
By so doing he is, of course, throwing
away opportunities to make money, but
this is not always appreciated by those
who have not grasped the important fact
that the average farm is too small for
maximum efficiency and that in the ma
iority of cases to increase the size OF the
farm business is to increase the profits
from IL, Those owners, however, who,
realizing this, are operating leased land
in addition to their own, are, like ten
ants, careful to see that they pay for no
loafer acres.
To anyone who is buying or leasing
land, then, the important question is not
"How much am paying an acre for this
tract?" but "How much am paying tor
the acres that are going to work for meT'
In the new bulletin it is calculated that
farm of 100 acres, selling at 500 an
acre. will cost the purchaser actually
sl11, IL an acre if 90 percent OF 1t Is pro-
ductive. and 5000 an acre if only 80 per
cent of it is productive. As matter OF
fact, the percentage of improved land In
farms east of the Mississippi is only
sos and west of the river only sos. I'M
proved land, however, 1t should De not
ed. is not always the same as productive
land. A good timber lot, for example,
is not improved, but it may be highly
productive. and farm buildings and
fences stand on land that is improved
but produces nothing. In the fnsi
ANALYSIS it is the amount of productive
land that determines the earning capaci'
ty of farm, and that should therefore
determine its price.