The average value of land per acre for the total farming area of the 

 county is ^46.39, as against ^33.48 in 1900, an increase of 38.3%. This 

 increase, however, varies greatly in different sections, and so does the 

 present value. The land which is still farmed within the sections now 

 enjoying extensive suburban development (a question which will be taken 

 up later) has for the most part by that fact received an increase in market 

 value all out of proportion to its value for farming purposes. Location, 

 rather than intrinsic value has been in all cases the determining factor. 

 Much of the land adjacent to the Railroad, even in the upper end of the 

 county where the development has been slower, has increased in value 

 50 to 80%. This is true also of land adjacent to the newer pikes, where 

 the increase has often been rapid. In parts of the county less favorably 

 situated the increase has been proportionately small. Damascus District 

 and parts of the Bamesville and Clarksburg Districts are examples cf 

 this. In general, farm land has proven a good investment. Not much 

 of it is for sale. When offered, it usually finds a ready purchaser. More- 

 over, with the increased facilities of transportation that will surely 

 come, with the improved methods of farming which every decade brings, 

 and with the steady development of the available markets, it is reason- 

 able to expect that the value of farm land will continue to increase. 

 There has been no very marked tendency to speculate in farm lands 

 for farming purposes. The farm is usually regarded as a home rather 

 than as an investment. What speculation there has been has had an 

 eye to possible suburban development. 



(3) How the Land is Held. There are in all 2,432 farms in the county, 

 of which 2,093 or 85.7% are operated by white farmers and 349 or 14.3% 

 are operated by colored farmers. Of those operated by white farmers, 

 2,042 are operated by native-born, and 51 by foreign-born whites. At 

 present the average size of the farms is about 112 acres, but they are 

 tending to become smaller. In 1900 with 10,000 acres more in farms, 

 there were 357 fewer farmers, making the average size of the farms at 

 that time 136 acres. Apparently, the increased value of the land, and 

 the ever increasing diflficulty of obtaining good farm labor are not only 

 causing the breaking up of the very large farms, but are also considerably 

 increasing the number of very small farms. Then too, there is a greater 

 amount of truck farming, which does not require as much land for pro- 

 fitable operation as general farming. Thirty-nine per cent, of all the 

 farms have less than 50 acres each. The farms operated by colored 

 farmers are on the whole much smaller than those operated by the white. 

 69.3% of all colored farmers have 19 acres or less. (See Diagram No. 1 

 on opposite page and Table No. 2, Appendix, page I). 



The study of the kind of tenure reveals some rather significant 

 facts; (See Table No. 3, Appendix, page I,) 75.4% of all farms 



10 



