22 ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA [ 22 



average size of holdings was above four hundred and 

 thirty acres, whereas in all the counties, except four, to 

 the north and west of this line the average was below 

 four hundred and thirty acres. The larger holdings 

 were, therefore, to be found in the region of the head- 

 right grants and in that section where the lottery grants 

 were largest, that is to say, practically all the territory 

 where the plots granted contained four hundred and 

 ninety and two hundred and fifty acres, and in some of 

 the territory where they contained two hundred and two 

 and one-half acres. 



If a map of Georgia constructed to show the average 

 size of holdings by counties in i860, is compared with a 

 map showing the size of plots granted under the several 

 lottery acts, it is found that in most of the counties the 

 holdings on the average were then at least twice as large 

 as the original grants. Upon the whole the one hundred 

 and sixty-acre plots had hardly doubled in size. This 

 was largely due to the fact that they lay in the uninvit- 

 ing mountainous counties of the north. The forty-acre 

 grants, just south of the one hundred and sixty-acre 

 lots, had undergone on the average a merging of from 

 four to eight into one holding. So also the two hundred 

 and two and one-half, the two hundred and fifty, and 

 even the four hundred and ninety-acre lots are shown to 

 have had a considerable tendency towards merging. 

 While four hundred and thirty acres represents a very 

 large average holding, it should be remembered that 

 only about one-fourth or one-fifth of the owners held 

 tracts of land larger than this average — the vast majority 

 of holdings ranged below it. 



The Eighth Census gives some figures on the owner- 

 ship of slaves in Georgia, which make an interesting rev- 

 elation when compared with the figures given above on 



