Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-20

Farm Loan organization has a re-
port on at least one farm in every
county in the country. In many
counties reports are on file concern
ing almost every farm.
How Reports Are Made
The reports show what kinds of
soils are found or the farm involv-
ed. They show whether the land
is adaptable to grain, pasture, fruit
growing, truck gardening or ether
agricultural use. Frequently the ex-
pert appraiser will be able to learn
more about the land in the course Of
his inspection than the inexpert far
mer who has lived there all his life.
A farmer may think his land is ex-
cellent for a number of purposes
and the appraiser will discover it
has been overworked without fertili-
cation and that its productiveness is
about at an end. In such a case, The
loan approved will be low. On the
other hand, the expert may find a
farm of which the farmer has a re-
latively low opinion and on the Sc
curity of which he asks little. 1t
may develop that the farmer has
been planting the wrong kind of
crops to suit the land and that if
some other produce were put in the
same soil would bring greater yields.
All these elements enter into the ex-
animation and bring into the files of
the Federal Farm Loan System a
wealth of information which ulti.
mately will cover most of the coun
try, if not every farm.
When that is accomplished. it will
be possible. by consulting these
| ronnrdG fn diSPnuar it1c+ wha : a farpo
in almost any county in the coun-
try is good for. what it will raise,
whether 1t Is watered~or arid, what
the transportation facilities are, the
climate, the condition of the roads
and various other pertinent data.
While this information is being
gathered for the purpose of lending.
it will have the tendency to become
accepted as a basis of sale value
and, therefore, consultation of these
records can establish the price of
almost any farm in the country.
May Hasten Detailed Survey.
The value of such information Is
SO well recognized at Washington
that it is considered quite likely that
some steps may be taken to hasten
this detailed survey. Under the
present system, the reports are made
only in connection with loan appli-
cations and, while these are COM
ing in rapidly, independent ad-
ditionai Investigations made directly
by Government agents, would bring
much closer the date when the whole
body of farm lands will be reported
upon.
These reports will have to be kept
up-to-date by additional notations
from time to time, because changes
are constantly taking place in the
nature Of soils and In other matters
closely affecting the value of farm
lands. The lack of proper fertiliza-
ton will exhaust the producing prop
critics of a soil and the farm that
/ once was productive may become
practically sterile. An excellent ex-
ample of this is furnished by the
rundown tobacco lands of certain
sections in Southern States. Once,
the most fertile lands in the world,
they were worked year in and year
out, without fertilization and with
put rotation of crops or following,
with the result that the soil became
exhausted. Hundreds of thousands
Of acres of such land may be found
in many Southern States. grown UP
in weeds of a coarse variety and in
scrub pine, which will live on al
most any soil.
Experts of the Bureau of Soils of
the Department of Agriculture say
there is not much which can be done
to retrieve these old lands, but the
bureau has made great strides in
the last few years in instructing the
farmers how to prevent a repetition
Of such exhaustion on still fertile
lands.
The construction of roads, the ex-
tension of railroads, improvement of
terminal facilities and many other
elements enter into the data af-
fecting' the value of farm lands.
These reports must he kept up-to-
date by the notation of all such
material changes if they are to be-
come permanent, reliable references.
Actually these reports will furnish
much data of human interest in the
lives and vicissitudes of the farming
population. II they are to be Of gem
uine value. Suppose. for instance,
that a farmer borrows a substantial
sum on an excellent farm, to which
excellence much is contributed by
the fine barns, stables, granaries and
other buildings which stand upon it.
Suppose. then, these buildings are
struck by lightning and burned to
the ground. 1t will be seen that the
value of that mortgage and the value
| of the farm has been much impaired.
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