her reasons,
to the fact that every place has its advantages and disadvantages. The
sum of the advantages may be greater in one place than in another, but
if these advantages are known they must generally be paid for.

New adaptations, however, may change materially the value of the land
in a given locality as, for example, the discovery that a region is
especially adapted to raising alfalfa, onions, cabbages, apples or
peaches. Changing conditions, as the growth of population or better
transportation facilities, may materially affect the attractiveness of
a region from the standpoint of the farmer.

The competition of other regions which grow similar crops is a potent
factor in determining the desirability of a region. For example, the
farmers east of the Allegheny mountains during the nineteenth century
competed with the farmers of the central West who had free, fertile,
easily tilled land on which to grow maize, wheat and oats. Cattle and
sheep were pastured on the open range. The twentieth century has found
the land of this region settled and capitalized in some instances
beyond that of the eastern states; thus one factor at least of
competition has been eliminated.

While farm values readjust themselves in time, it often happens,
especially in the older settled regions, that farm values are slow in
reflecting these changes in economic conditions. Changed conditions
often call for a change in farm methods which the habits and
traditions of even one generation prevent. To the man who is able to
apply the proper methods the region may be a desirable one, although
under existing conditions the results may be unsatisfactory. The young
man, however, is cautioned at this point not to be overconfident of
his own ability. Under such circumstances it is well to study the
problem with great care, because the methods which seem unwise to the
casual observer may, after all, be found to be based upon sound
economic principles.

A man of 25 who is looking for a location should not only study the
present conditions of the locality, but try to predict what is likely
to be the future of the region during the next third of a century,
since this is the period in which he may reasonably expect to be
personally interested, although later in life he will find himself
quite as much interested in the more distant future on account of his
children.

Nothing is more self-evident than that one should choose a region,
especially as rega