that future years will see some growth in this amount. In Minnesota and South Dakota similar possibilities exist, yet neither the farmer nor the business man should forget that the present rate of farm-development is rapid, and that the time when these States will come to the limit of their present unused arable-land resources is within sight.
The number of farms in North Dakota has increased two and two thirds times in twenty years. For the ten years ending in 1910 the increase of population was about 81 per cent, but the increase in acreage of farm land was about 83 per cent. The number of farms increased 64 per cent, and the increase in land-values alone added $557,028,000 to the wealth of the farmers. In South Dakota the percentage of increase in the number of farms was greater than the percentage of increase in population, and was ten times as large as the average increase for the ten years ending in 1900. Minnesota showed less increase during the decade, but added 1478 new farms. The effect of this demand for land is shown in the
