AGRICULTURE 



FARM EQUIPMENT AND OPERATIONS. 



Information about agriculture in the United States has 

 become more and more complete with each succeeding cen- 

 sus, beginning with that of 1840, which gave the yields of 

 various crops in each county, but told nothing about the 

 number, size, and value of the farms. The next graph (Fig. 

 27) shows the progressive increase of farm land and im- 

 proved land since 1850. The first table below (No. 31) gives 

 statistics for 1850 and 1860, for three regions (separating 

 Baldwin and Mobile Counties as in the population tables), 

 and for the whole State. 



The most noteworthy features of ante-bellum agricul- 

 ture in southern Alabama are about as follows : The indi- 

 vidual farms increased in size from 1850 to I860,, which 

 was about the culmination of the southern plantation sys- 

 tem. The largest plantations, especially when measured in 

 number of improved rather than total acres, were in the 

 most fertile region. Those in Baldwin County were nearly 

 as large in total acreage, but there about 85 per cent of the 

 land owned by farmers in the decade before the Civil War 

 was pine woods and river swamps, used chiefly for range 

 for livestock. The most valuable land and buildings in 1850 

 (as now) were in Mobile County, where the proximity of 

 the port influenced the price of real estate, but by 1860 the 

 western division of the red hills had taken the lead in that 

 respect, which it probably held until the outcome of the 

 war made many of the former slaves farm proprietors. The 

 increase in all values between 1850 and 1860 is noteworthy, 

 and was probably due mostly to the discovery of gold in 

 California in 1849, which increased the circulation of that 

 standard of value. 



In 1850 Baldwin County was far in the lead in all kinds 

 of livestock per farm, except horses, in which Mobile equaled 

 it, and hogs, in which the western red hills surpassed it. At 

 that time horses were more numerous than mules in most 

 parts of Alabama, but the latter have gained considerably 

 since, as the amount of free range decreased. 



(117) 



