A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 155 



TABLE 4. Changes in agricultural land, by regions, originally forested counties 

 east of Great Plains, 1910-30 



1 Gross increase is total of increases in counties having increases and gross decrease is total of decreases in 

 counties having decreases during the decade. 



Although the decade 1920-30 was the first to show a widespread 

 decline in the total agricultural land or in total crop land, land 

 abandonment has been going on for many years. In some counties 

 in the northeast, considerable land was abandoned 50 years ago, but 

 these decreases were more than counterbalanced by increases in 

 counties elsewhere in this region. Even during the decade 1910-1920, 

 when there was a large increase stimulated by war prices, land was 

 abandoned in many counties. The counter-movement persisted 

 locally even during the last decade, 1920-30, many counties showing 

 an increase in agricultural land while the total for these forest regions 

 as a whole declined. 



The net increase in agricultural land from 1910 to 1920 was 

 4,500,000 acres. There was a decline of 10,500,000 acres in certain 

 counties, which was more than offset by an increase of 15,000,000 

 acres in other counties of the region. The net decline in agricultural 

 land between 1920 and 1930 was 14,000,000 acres, the net resultant 

 of a decrease of 21,000,000 acres in a majority of the counties, offset 

 in part by an increase of 7,000,000 acres in other counties. (See table 

 4.) The increases occurred mostly in the western part of this origi- 

 nally forested region, while the counties reporting a decline were 

 scattered in all States of the region. In the eastern States the decline 

 was almost universal. Agricultural abandonment, like agricultural 

 development, has proceeded from east to west. The earliest and the 

 greatest amount of abandonment has taken place in New England 

 and New York. Relatively less abandonment has taken place in the 

 States to the west and south, and it has occurred at a later date. 

 (See fig. 1.) 



Not all of the land which has gone out of agricultural use is available 

 for reforestation. Some of it has already grown up to trees and is 

 included in the forest area, another portion has gone into residential, 3 

 recreational, and other uses. Probably most of the land abandoned 



3 Not all of the land which has gone out of agricultural use as calculated from the Census reports has 

 actually gone out of agricultural production, since some of that used for residential purposes has attached 

 to it land used for gardens, etc. Figures showing the actual amount of land used for agricultural production- 

 in units smaller than those considered as farms by the Census are not available, but the amount probably 

 is comparatively small in the aggregate. 



