10 



intelligence and culture, schools and civic improvements of the highest 

 order, unparalleled climate, and good roads throughout the year, as 

 well as many other factors, contribute to this end. 



SOME CENSUS FIGURES 



More than three-fifths of all the land owned in farms in California 

 in 1910, was held in tracts of one thousand acres or over. This vast 

 area of seventeen million acres, however, represents only about 5 per 

 cent of the total number of farms. There were less than five thousand 

 farms of over a thousand acres each, while there were more than ten 

 thousand farms of less than ten acres each. More than one-tenth of 

 all the farms in California, 1910, were less than ten acres in area. In 

 many instances, however, the income from the farm did not represent 

 the total income of the owner. The following table gives the number 

 of farms by size groups, together with the total area of land and the 

 value per acre in each group as determined by the census of 1910. 



Number Total area Value per acre 



Under 20 acres 22,525 200,822 $666.67 



20 to 49 acres 20,614 625,954 308.01 



50 to 174 acres 22,695 2,462,400 126.03 



175 to 999 acres 17,670 7,352,304 59.29 



1000 acres and over 4,693 17,289,954 21.84 



Total 88,197 27,931,434 51.93 



Speaking in general terms, one-fourth of the farms of California 

 were less than twenty acres in area, one-fourth between twenty and 

 forty-nine acres, one-fourth between fifty and one hundred and 

 seventy-four acres, while the remaining one-fourth were one hundred 

 and seventy-five acres or more in extent. The latter one-fourth 

 occupied seven-eighths of the total area in farms. The average size 

 of farm was three hundred and seventeen acres with an average value 

 for land and buildings of $16,447. The average value of livestock 

 per farm was $1447, and that of implements and machinery was $414. 



It is interesting to note that farms operated by owners averaged 

 two hundred and twenty-seven acres, by tenants three hundred and 

 forty-two acres, and by managers nineteen hundred and thirty-three 

 acres. The greatly increased acreage value of the smaller farms as 

 shown in the table above is due to many causes, of which four stand 

 out prominently: (1) location, (2) larger proportionate value of build- 

 ings, (3) irrigation, (4) in many cases, plantations of fruit trees. 



