The Btlletin 11 



Eighty-three and three-tenths per cent of the land area is in farms. 

 Fifty-six per cent of the farm Land is improved. The average size of 

 farms is 71.7 acres. The popuhttion in 1910 was 67,031. 



AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 



The first Umd grants for the territory nOAv inckided in Mecklenburg- 

 County date back to 1749. The early settlers began to produce small 

 grain, corn, hogs, cattle, -tind sheep. Flax, indigo, and some tobacco for 

 home use were also grown. Between 1782 and 1795 considerable areas 

 of cotton were planted. Cattle raising became of more importance, and 

 most of the animals were driven to Charleston. According to the early 

 history, the period between 1800 and 1810 was one of the most prosper- 

 ous prior to the Civil War. Mecklenburg was the leading county in 

 Xorth Carolina in the development of cotton growing. 



Large plantations were the rule, and these ranged in size from 2,000 

 to 5,000 acres. Land was plentiful and cheap and the planter did not 

 give much attention to intensive farming or to the building up of the 

 soil, and when a field began to show a decided decline in yields it was 

 abandoned or turned .out and a new field cleared to take its place. On 

 some of the uplands wild pea vines and grasses flourished, and this 

 afforded excellent grazing for cattle and sheep. Immediately after the 

 Civil War Mecklenburg County was favored by home-seekers. Money 

 was scarce and the people through necessity began to increase the acre- 

 age devoted to cotton, the money crop, and from 1865 to 1880 the num- 

 ber of bales of cotton produced had increased from 6,000 to 19,000. 



PRESENT AGRICULTURE 



The agriculture of Mecklenburg County consists at the present time 

 in the production of cotton, corn, oats, crimson clover, cowpeas, wheat, 

 rye, market gardening, and dairying. 



Cotton, being the principal money crop, is the most important crop 

 grown, being more than 35 per cent of all the crops. Its production is 

 distributed throughout the county upon practically all of the upland 

 soils. The yields under normal conditions range from one-fourth to 

 more than one bale per acre. 



Corn, comprising almost 24 per cent of the cultivated land of the 

 county in crops, is the second crop of importance, and is grown to more 

 or less extent on every type of soil throughout the county. The average 

 yield is about 20 bushels, although 40 to 50 bushels can be obtained by 

 proper methods of preparation, cultivation, and liberal fertilization. 

 Frequently as much as 75 bushels per acre have been obtained. The 

 corn grown in Mecklenburg County is used principally as the subsist- 

 ence crop for work stock and hogs. The amount grown is insufficient 

 to meet the local demands throughout all parts of the county, to say 

 nothing of the demand of the cities. 



