PROPORTION OF FARMS TO POPULATION. 295 



can easily be made from the census report between the number 

 of farms and the value of personal property thereon, and the 

 number of land owners, tells the story. For instance : Wiscon 

 sin, in 1870, had 102,904 farms, only thirty -two of which con 

 tains more than 1,000 acres. In California five hundred and 

 sixteen men owned 8,685,439 acres, nearly double the area of 

 Massachusetts, and about one fifth of the arable land of the 

 State. 



In Fresno County there are forty-eight land-holders, that own 

 from five to seventy-nine thousand acres each. In Santa Barbara 

 forty-four men own over a million acres. Sixteen men in Cali 

 fornia own over eighty-four square miles. 



At the present moment it is estimated that 40,000,000 acres 

 in the State deserve to be considered tillable. 22, 000, 000 acres 

 have been disposed of, including 8,000,000 acres covered by 

 Mexican grants; 7,500,000 acres given for educational purposes; 

 4,000,000 sold; 600,000 given as homestead claims, and 800,000 

 granted to the State as swamp land. The railroad lands cover 

 30,000,000 of acres, but patents have been given for only a 

 small portion of this amount. 



&quot;We all know what the concentration of land ownership into 

 the hands of a few persons has done for England. At the time 

 of the Norman conquest, the population was supposed to have 

 been a million and a half, and there is in existence a written 

 roll of over 45,000 land-owners. In 1861, with a population of 

 0,000,000, the number of land-owners is 30,000. Millions of 

 acres are kept out of cultivation in parks and forests; and within 

 the last twenty -five years two and a half millions of the popula 

 tion of Great Britain have emigrated; while every twentieth 

 man of those that remain is a pauper. 



Two regions of the United States were ready for land mon 

 opoly to take refuge in, when driven from its European strong 

 holds, viz., New Mexico and California. The foundation was 

 laid in grants of large areas of the best agricultural and grazing 

 lands therein, made by the Spanish and Mexican authorities to 

 individuals. The indefinite character of Mexican grants, their 

 boundaries being generally defined by some river or irregular 

 mountain range, never surveyed or ascertained until they be 

 came the property of the United States, has led to endless 

 litigation in both Federal and State courts. In 1835 the 

 secularization of the Missions took place, their property being 



