No. 4.] OUR AGRICULTURAL ADVANCE. 85 



OUR AGRICULTURAL ADVANCE. 



BY PROF. F. A. WAUGH OF AMHERST. 



The title Avhich has been given to this address is not 

 very accurately suggestive of the matter which I propose 

 to present. I have been unable to select a more appro- 

 priate one, however, and so I shall have to beg your charity 

 on this point. The mere item of a title may be overlooked, 

 perhaps, providing the discussion should prove to be of 

 interest. My real object in the construction of this lecture 

 was in fact threefold : ( 1 ) to examine some recent agricul- 

 tural statistics, particularly those of the twelfth census ; (2) 

 to call attention to certain of the more strikins; general 

 tendencies in American agriculture which they suggest ; 

 and (3), with these figures and tendencies in view, to show 

 the important influence which our horticultural industries 

 have on our agricultural progress as a whole. 



The statistics given below arc, in all cases, from the 

 twelfth census of the United States, — that is, the census 

 for 1900, — unless otherwise specified. 



Area of Farms. 

 Let us look first at the size of the average firm in the 

 United States. The figures for three decades are as fol- 

 loAvs : — 



1880, 133.7 acres. 



1890, 136 5 acres. 



1900, 146.6 acres. 



These are the averages for the entire United States. It 

 will be seen that the size of the average farm has been 

 steadily increasinof. This would suffo'est at once that farm- 

 ing is being done on a larger scale, with greater capital, 



