BULLETINS OF THE ELEVENTH CENSUS. 477 



as many other dealers have contracts in like proportion on various other 

 seeds, it will be seen that the garden-seed business alone is assuming great 

 importance in the agriculture of the country. Again, while the greater 

 amount of seed grains, cotton, tobacco, etc., used upon farms is of home 

 and neighborhood production and is freely exchanged for labor or for 

 other products, there are in nearly every county one or more successful 

 farmers who by a careful selection of seed stock and by better methods 

 secure greater returns than their neighbors and are able to dispose of part 

 of their productions for seed purposes at advanced rates. These men can 

 not be classed as seed farmers, and would hardly be able to estimate what 

 proportion of their crops was sold for seed purposes annually; but it is 

 safe to assume that such farmers produce one third of all the small grains, 

 corn, potatoes, tobacco, and cotton seed planted. In addition to these, 

 there are annually sold for seed purposes upward of 1,000,000 bushels of 

 selected grains, both of the standard and newer varieties, very little of 

 which is produced upon regular seed farms. The same is true of grass 

 seeds, which are produced in enormous quantities in New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, 

 Kansas, and Nebraska, largely supplying the demands of the country as 

 well as furnishing a considerable surplus for export. The quantity and 

 value of this production will be shown in the final census reports. 



Of the 596 seed farms in the United States, 258, or nearly one half, are 

 in the North Atlantic division, the original center of seed production. 

 The farms have an acreage of 47,813, or an average of 185 acres per farm, 

 while in the North Central division there are 157 farms, with an acreage 

 of 87,096, or an average of 555 acres per farm. The seed farms of Mass- 

 achusetts and Connecticut average 142 acres per farm, while those of Iowa 

 and Nebraska are 695 acres in extent, and are producing seeds on a scale 

 of equal magnitude to the other products of that section of the country. 

 Several of these seed-producing farms embrace nearly 3,000 acres each. 



The table showing date of establishment as seed farms indicates in a 

 general way the growth and prosperity of the business. So far as reported, 

 there were but 2 seed farms in the country previous to 1800 (one of these 

 was established in Philadelphia in 1784, and the other at Enfield, New 

 Hampshire, in 1795), only 3 in 1820, 6 in 1830, 19 in 1840, 34 in 1850, 53 

 in 1860, 100 in 1870, 207 in 1880, and 200 more were established between 

 1880 and 1890, leaving 189 unaccounted for as to date of establishment. 

 But as the proprietors of the older seed farms take great pride in this mat- 

 ter, it is safe to assume that 90 per cent, of the unreported farms have come 

 into existence within the past 20 years. 



The following table shows, by states, the number of seed farms in the 

 United States, number of acres of land in farms, average value per acre, 

 value of tools and implements used, and total value of farms, tools, imple- 

 ments, buildings, etc.: 



