2I ] THE TENURE OF LAND BEFORE i860 2 I 



According to the census the total farm acreage of the 

 state was 26,650,490, about one-third of which, 8,062,758 

 acres, was classed as improved land. As indicated above, 

 the foregoing classification had reference only to the 

 improved land in farms. In order to make the figures 

 applicable to entire holdings, including the unimproved 

 as well as the improved acreage, the figures would have 

 to undergo a considerable shifting downward. It is 

 likely that .a five-fold increase of the farms containing 

 over one thousand acres would bring the number of 

 these large holdings within a reasonable range of accu- 

 racy. Likewise the number in the five hundred to one 

 thousand-acre group should be multiplied by three in 

 order to make it indicate the probable number of hold- 

 ings within the group. 



Inasmuch as the total number of farms may be assumed 

 to represent, roughly at least, the total number of land- 

 owners, the changes just mentioned will necessitate a 

 readjustment of the numbers of the smaller groups* 

 Such an assumption, however, gives only an approxima- 

 tion to the number of landowners; because, in the first 

 place, some lands were held speculatively, and hence were 

 not reckoned as farms, and, secondly, in some cases, two 

 or more farms may have been operated on one holding 

 through some plan of tenancy. Thus while the average 

 number of utilized acres in the farms was only about one 

 hundred and fifty, the census figures indicate that the 

 average size of holdings was four hundred and thirty 

 acres. 1 



As to geographical distribution, it may be said that in 

 practically all the counties south and east of a line ex- 

 tending from Hart county to Chattahoochee county the 



1 Eighth Census, Agriculture, p. 222. 



