4 2 ECONOMICS OF LAND TENURE IN GEORGIA [42 



The table shows that there are 124,647 white owners 

 of " improved " rural lands in Georgia, and that they own 

 29,769,720 acres. These figures indicate that the average 

 size of white holdings is 238.8 acres. 1 



If a map of the state is drawn to show the average 

 size of holdings in each county, and if those counties are 

 shaded in which the average acreage of holdings is 

 greater than the average for the state (238.8), it is found 

 that all the shaded counties are in the southern and cen- 

 tral parts of the state, whereas without a single excep- 

 tion in each of the northern counties the average size of 

 holdings is below the average for the state. 2 It has always 

 been the case that the holdings in the southern part of 

 the state were larger than in the northern counties, while 

 the middle counties have ranked in size, as well as in 

 location, between the extremes, with a tendency for the 

 holdings to be larger in the eastern section of this mid- 

 dle belt than in the western. 



It should be remembered in this connection that most 

 of the northern lands were distributed under the seventh 

 and eighth lottery acts which provided for a partition of 

 the land into lots of one hundred and sixty or forty acres 

 each. In explaining the present existence of the smaller 

 proprietorships in this region, this early distribution 

 policy is a matter of some importance. Had the original 

 grants been larger it is likely that the average size would 



1 According to the estimate based on the figures for thirty-one counties 

 as given on page 35, the average size in 1902 was 264.8 acres. It is not 

 to be inferred that there was so great a decrease in the average acreage 

 of holdings from 1902 to 1903 as is here indicated. The discrepancy is 

 explained, in part at least, by the fact that the calculations for 1903 in- 

 clude the city counties referred to in a former note (p. 41), while in the 

 1902 estimate these counties are not represented. 



3 See map in the Appendix, {infra). 



