8(3 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



etc. We have always thought that the progress of the rural 

 life in America was in the direction of the seofreoation of 

 farms, — from larger farms to smaller ones. We have 

 thought that this was necessarily correlated witli our ad- 

 vancement toward a more intensive agriculture. From 

 these figures, however, we would infer that our agricultural 

 evolution was moving in the other direction, namely, toAvard 

 a more extensive rather than a more intensive practice. 



When we analyze the figures, we shall find that both 

 things are true. The fact is, that the average size of farms 

 has increased in the western States, while it has decreased 

 or remained stationary in the eastern States. This fact is 

 brought out in the following figures, showing the average 

 number of acres to each fiirm by geographic divisions by 

 decades : — 



While the decreasing size of eastern farms is less well 

 marked than the increasing size of western and south- 

 western farms, it is nevertheless fairly Avell established. 

 This tendency toward smaller farms has been clearly mani- 

 fest in Massachusetts during the last decade. 



The sum of the matter, then, is this : we may say, on the 

 basis of these figures, that we are moving slowly toward a 

 more intensive agriculture in the eastern States, while the 

 west is moving distinctly toward a more extensive practice. 



