AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN xxix 



As shown by the above table, the largest of the groups of farms classi- 

 fied by size is the "100 to 174 acres" group, the 80,121 farms in this group 

 constituting 36.9 per cent, or more than one-third, of the 217,044 farms in 

 the state. The common 160-acre farm falls in this group. The group 

 which is next in numerical importance is the "175 to 259 acres" group, 

 comprising 40,304 farms. Hardly less important is the "50 to 99 acres" 

 group, which includes 38,712 farms. A study of the distribution of farms 

 by size groups discloses the fact that the greatest actual and relative gain 

 in number from 1900 to 1910 was made in the "3 to 9 acres" group. The 

 number of places "under 3 acres" where some agriculture is carried on 

 is reported as only about two-fifths as great as 10 years ago. This de- 

 crease may be due to a different interpretation by the enumerators as to 

 what to include as a small farm, or may represent an actual decrease in 

 that type of farm. The farms which fall in the groups between 20 and 99 

 acres have decreased 16,750 in number, or 23.5 per cent; those between 

 175 and 499 acres have increased 3,412 in number, or 5.4 per cent; and 

 those which exceed 500 acres in size, representing only 1.2 per cent of all 

 farms, have decreased 514 in number. 



Color and nativity of farmers, 1910. — Prior to the present census no at- 

 tempt was made to secure information on the farm schedules concerning 

 the nativity of farmers. The table in the next column shows the color 

 and nativity of farm operators by character of tenure for 1910. 



Over three-fourths of the Iowa farmers are native whites, and nearly 

 one-fourth foreign-born whites. Only 201, or one-tenth of 1 per cent of 

 all farmers, are negroes, no other nonwhites being reported. Of the na- 

 tive white farmers, four out of ten are tenants and about six out of ten 

 owners, while among both the negro and the foreign-born white farmers 

 about three out of ten are tenants and seven out of ten owners. 



