788 DELAWARE 



diary who afterwards confessed to setting 30 fires in Connecticut and western Massachu- 

 setts. The state militia was called out to control the panic. 



Bibliography. Public Acts (Hartford, 1911), Register and Manual (ibid., 1912), and other 

 official publications; J. A. Stoughton, Corner Stone of Colonial Commerce (Boston, 1911). 



DELAWARE 1 



Population (1910) 202,322 (9.5% more than in 1900); 76% were native whites, 12.8% 

 whites of foreign parentage, 8.6 % foreign-born whites, and 1 5.4 % negroes. The average 

 number to the sq. m. was 103 (94 in 1900), the state ranking 9th in density of popula- 

 tion; 52% of the total lived in unincorporated territory or in incorporated places of less 

 than 2,500 inhabitants. Wilmington, the only city with 5,000 or more, had 87,411; 

 Dover, the capital, 3,720; and New Castle, 3,351. 



Agriculture. The acreage in farms decreased from 1,066,228 to 1,038,866 between 1900 

 and 1910; the improved land in farms from 754,010 to 713,538; and the average farm acreage 

 from IIO.I to 95.9. The value of farm property increased from $40,697,654 in 1900 to 

 $63,179,201 in 1910 ($34,938,161 land; $18,217,822 buildings; $3,206,095 implements and 

 $6,817,123 domestic animals). About four-fifths of the land area was in farms in 1910. The 

 average value of farm land per acre was $33.63. Farms were operated largely by owners 

 (6,178 by owners, 123 by managers and 4,535 by tenants). In 1912 (preliminary estimates) 

 the principal crops were: Indian corn, 6,630,000 bu. (195,000 A.); wheat, 1,942,000 bu. 

 (111,000 A.); oats, 122,000 bu. (4,000 A.); rye, 14,000 bu. (1,000 A.); buckwheat, 64,000 bu. 

 (4,000 A.); potatoes, 1,100,000 bu. (11,000 A.); and hay, 96,000 tons (72,000 A.). During 

 1912 the shipments of fruit, etc., over the Delaware Railroad, comprising most of that 

 markeled, were: berries 18,626,793 qts.; apples, 556,621 baskets (f bu.); peaches, 336,037 

 baskets (f bu.); pears, 1,026,620 baskets; grapes, 3,225,876 Ibs., potatoes, 303,601 bbls.; 

 canteloupes, 489,752 carriers; watermelons, 478 cars. Except apples and peaches the crops 

 were unusually large. In 1909 (U. S. Census) the total value of vegetables other than 

 potatoes was $1,102,620;' of flowers and plants, $71,429; of nursery products, $39,057; of 

 small fruits, 8649,732 (strawberries, $569,354; blackberries, $61,817; raspberries, $17,359); 

 of orchard fruits, $195,766 (apples, $115,371 and pears, $52,022); of grapes, $43,967. On 

 January I, 1912 there were on farms: 34,000 horses, 6,000 mules, 37,000 milch cows, 19,000 

 other neat cattle, 8,000 sheep and 59,000 swine. In 1912 a study by the state experiment, 

 station of the effect of various forms of lime in the soil indicated that ground limestone is as 

 effective in promoting decomposition of organic matter as burned lime. A study of 

 Bordeaux injury to the apple was completed. 



Manufactures. The total value of factory products in 1909 was $52,840,000, an increase 

 of 28.4 % since 1904; capital invested in manufacturing, $60,906,000, the number of establish- 

 ments, 726, and the number of persons engaged in manufacturing, 23,984. The value of 

 leather, tanned, curried and finished was $12,079,000; foundry and machine-shop products, 

 $4,781,000; cars, steam railway, not including operations of railway companies, $3,628,000; 

 cars and general shop construction and repairs by steam railways, $3,251,000; paper and 

 wood-pulp, $2,292,000; products of canning and preserving, $2,106,000; and shipbuilding, 

 $1,990,000. The factory products of Wilmington were valued at $38,069,000 (72% of the 

 state's total). 



Transportation. Railway mileage, January I, 1912, 388.17. During 1911 T. Coleman 

 du Pont offered $1,500,000 to the state to build a state boulevard; and the legislature au- 

 thorised the organisation of a boulevard corporation to build a boulevard from the northern 

 to the southern part of the state. The corporation (the Coleman du Pont Road Incorporated) 

 under the law was permitted to build and maintain telegraph and telephone lines, a street 

 railway, lighting, heating and power plants. The constitutionality of the boulevard law was 

 in question; the state supreme court unanimously decided (July 17, 1912) that it was valid, 

 but an appeal on a writ of error was taken to a Federal court by land owners who opposed 

 the building of the road. No decision was handed down in 1912. 



In 1911-12 the Federal government was improving the channels in several streams in 

 the state the Appoquinimink, Murderkill, Mispillion; St. Jones, l.eipsic and Broadkill. 



Government. The regular biennial session of the legislature was held from January 

 3 to March 30, 1911. It proposed constitutional amendments (to come before the 

 legislature in 1913 for ratification) giving the legislature the power of laying out such 

 roads as are continuous highways through a part of the three counties of the state and 

 making one superior court justice (instead of two) a quorum except in a court of oyer 

 and termincr. The law of negotiable instruments was made uniform and ground rents 

 were extinguished. For capital punishment life imprisonment may be substituted at 

 the option of the court if the jury recommends to mercy. 



1 See E. B. vii, 947 et seq. 



