3« 



ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA 



[38 



The large percentages of increase in the first three 

 groups lose some of their apparent significance when it 

 is remembered that the base on which the percentage is 

 calculated in each of these cases is very small. It is 

 probable that about one-fifth of one per cent of the 

 rural lands owned by the whites are in plots containing 

 less than twenty acres each. As might be expected, it 

 is in the immediate vicinity of cities like Atlanta, Macon, 

 Augusta, Savannah and Columbus that these very small 

 holdings tend to prevail, because it is there that truck- 

 farming to supply the cities has been found profitable. 

 However, as the figures indicate, there is a considerable 

 sprinkling of these very small proprietorships all over 

 the state. Although the percentages of increase give an 

 exaggerated idea as to the extent of the movement, still 

 the wholesome truth remains that these small proprietor- 

 ships are on the increase. It should be added that the 

 tendency represents an upward trend in the social scale 

 rather than a downward movement. That is to say, 

 those coming into possession of these small tracts are 

 usually those who previously possessed no land rather 

 than those who once held larger tenures which have been 

 pressed into narrower limits through the operation of 

 adverse circumstances. 



