Table I

TABLE I. Estimated Population in the United States in 192o, by Country of Origin* is a mixture of many races, but the population is as homogeneous racially as most of the countries of north-western Europe. The immigrants from southern and eastern Europe have tended to remain in cities, so that the farm population is practically all from north-western Europe, except the negroes in the cotton belt. The white population increasingly uses power and machinery in farming. In 188o, 44.4% of the population was engaged in agri culture, and 4o years later, 26.3% (Table II.). The production per worker is so large that great quantities of cotton, grain and meat are available for export. In France, about 41% of the popu lation is engaged in agriculture, but only a small quantity of agri cultural products is available for export.

Settlement of the United States.

Thepublic domain of the United States was acquired by cession, purchase and conquest. The first acquisition took place in 1781 and the last in 1853. From 1781 to 1802, the various States ceded to the United States 268,00o,000ac. (Table III.). New York State was the first to part with its lands and Georgia the last. The Louisiana purchase, in 1803, whereby the United States obtained legal possession of 433 ,000,000ac. for $2 7,000,000, was the greatest acquisition that the country has ever made. From this area most of the country's surplus food is produced. By the purchase of Florida in 1819, the nation obtained control of 3 2,00o,000ac., at a cost of $6,O00,0O0. The annexation of Texas added 7i,000,000ac., at a Another wave of active settlement occurred between 183o-39. More land was settled in this decade than in any other decade. Another active period occurred between 1850–S9. This carried settlement into eastern Kansas. The next period of striking activ ity was between 188o-89. In this period, settlement occurred over most of the remaining territory, but much of the poorer land was left in Government ownership. The land disposed of between 1900-19 was mostly arid land that previously had been considered of little value.

Number and Size of Farms.

Sincethe first settlement, there had been a steady increase in the number of farms until 1920. The severe agricultural depression which began in that year resulted in a decrease in the number of farms (Table VI.). The number of farms of each size is shown in Table VII. The number of *B. H. Hibbard, A History of the Public Land Policies, p. 31, 1924.

cost of $15,o0O,00O. The Oregon territory comprising 166,000, 000ac. was added in 1846. For the Mexican territory of 3 2 5, 000,000ac., the United States paid to Mexico $15,000,o0o. In 1853, Mexico ceded to the United States 15,00o,000ac. costing $io,000,000. This was known as the Gadsden purchase.

*B. H. Hibbard, A History of the Public Land Policies, P. When the national Government was formed, it was heavily in debt and public lands were sold in order to derive necessary reve nue. Later the land policy was primarily concerned with settle ment. More land was disposed of through homestead and timber claims than by any other single means. Cash sales were second in importance. Large areas were given to the railroads in order to encourage the development of the country; also to public schools and other educational institutions. The area still remaining in the public domain is mostly forests or arid grazing land.

The data in Table V. indicate that there were five distinct periods of settlement, the first one between 1810-19. The period of depression following, the War of 1812 checked settlement.

small farms and farm homes of less than soac. is increasing. These farms increased from 29% in 188o to 38% in 1925. There has been a corresponding decrease in the percentage of larger farms. While 38% of the farms were less than 5oac., these farms included only 6% of the total land in farms. Only 3.3% of the farms had 5ooac. or more, but these farms included 34% of the total land. Many of these farms were in arid regions or in regions where the land is not adapted to intensive farming; there fore these large farms included only 17% of the area of improved farm-land. The average size of farms in 1925 was 145 acres. Most of the country was settled under a policy of developing fam ily farms. The data on the size of farms indicate the success of this policy. There are very few farms that are too large to be handled by the farm family with a small amount of hired labour.

Uses of Land.

19% of the land area of the United States is in harvested crops; 12% in humid pasture; 12% in forests and cut over land, a part of which is pastured; and 31% in arid pasture. The original forest area has been estimated at 822,000,000 acres. Nearly 6o% of this is still in forests or cut-over land. Of the land in farms other than farm wood-lots, somewhat less than one-half was once in forests and over half was natural grass land. Addi tional crop land will be obtained by clearing forest' lands and by use of pasture lands. The pasture land is the most available source Topography.—Thetopography of the United States is shown in fig. 2. There are three mountainous areas: one in the east, one in the west and the Ozark mountains in the south-central part. About one-half of the area is mountainous. Much of this is cov ered with forests. The primary agricultural area is the central basin. Most of it is less than i,sooft. in elevation. Along the of additional crop land. The largest area of readily available good crop land was the natural grass land of the Middle West, extend ing to about the ooth meridian. West of this there are large areas of arid and semi-arid land, much of which has now come into use, but which requires economical methods of farming and particular care in the conservation of moisture.

The period of rapid settlement following the Civil War resulted in the occupation of most of the good land as far west as the moth meridian. This land was so easily prepared for crops that a remarkable increase in production occurred between 1880-19oo.

coasts and between the mountains, there are many smaller areas that are highly developed agriculturally.

Rainfall.—Therainfall of the United States is shown in fig. 1. The western mountain range causes heavy precipitation along the coast, but makes most of the western two-fifths of the country arid. The rainfall of the central basin comes largely from the Gulf of Mexico. It decreases northward from the gulf. Rainfall is carried a short distance west from the Gulf of Mexico, but de creases rapidly in that direction. The boundary line between the humid and semi-arid areas is only a short distance west of the Gulf of Mexico. The percentage of the total area that received various amounts of rainfall is shown in Table X. Thirty-nine % of the United States receives less than loin. of rainfall, i I % receives over 5oin.; one-half of the area receives from 20 to 5oin.

Temperature.

The temperatures in Berlin, Germany, and Des Moines, Ia., are given in Table XI: The July temperature aver aged 65° F in Berlin and Io° higher in Des Moines. The contrast shows the difference between a potato and a corn climate. A tem perature that is high enough for the best yields of corn is too high for the best yields of potatoes. It is very easy for Germany to produce higher yields of potatoes than the United States and equally easy for the United States to produce higher yields of corn.

Value of Crops.

The value of all harvested crops in the United States is shown in fig. 4. This figure shows the combined Length of Growing Season.—The average number of days between frosts is shown in fig. 3. The area with over 24o days be tween frosts is sub-tropical. Citrus fruits and early vegetables are produced in the most favourable parts of this area. Most of the cotton is raised in the area with a growing season of from 200 to 240 days. The only important exception is a considerable area of cotton in the portion of Texas which has a growing season of over 24o days. Most of the winter wheat is grown in regions with a growing season of from i6o to 200 days. Most of the corn is grown in regions with a growing season of 14o to i8o days. Spring wheat is primarily grown in regions with less than 14o days of growing season.

effect of topography, rainfall and soil on the crop production. The areas that produce only a small amount of crops for sale are mountainous, arid or sandy. The highly productive sections of the country occupy about one-fourth of the total land area. The largest area that is highly productive is in the north-central part of the country extending from Ohio to Nebraska. There is a highly productive area south of this along the Mississippi river. A region of high crop values in Texas is caused by an area where good soils overlap on sufficient rainfall. Most of the coastal plain area from Texas to Maine and a considerable area around the Great Lakes are too sandy for most crops. Between the coastal plain area and the mountains there is a productive area extending from Alabama to Virginia. Philadelphia is in the centre of another highly pro ductive area. Long Island, the Connecticut river valley and Aroos took county, Me., are small areas with high production. In west ern New York, south of Lake Ontario, is an area with level pro ductive land. In the western half of the United States, there are many small areas of irrigated land. A number of these are indi cated in fig. 4. Along the Pacific coast there are several highly productive areas.

Machinery.—Thissubject is also dealt with under AGRICUL