43 ] TENDENCIES IN LANDOWNERSHIP 43 



now be much larger. The lots were made small primarily 

 because it was thought that gold, copper, iron and other 

 minerals were to be found there. While the full expecta- 

 tions in this regard failed of realization, there has been a 

 noteworthy persistence of relatively small holdings, due 

 to the fact that no great economic motive has operated 

 to increase the acreage in the farms. 



In the southern part of the state the grants were large, 

 embracing sometimes four hundred and ninety acres ; and 

 although much of this southern territory has not yet 

 been used for farming purposes proper, still an economic 

 motive has operated to bring large tracts into the hands 

 of the few as turpentine plantations and lumber farms. 

 It is likely that exploitative methods are employed in 

 both of these industries, and that they will tend to give 

 way more and more to the cultivation of the soil, and 

 this will lead to a greater subdivision of the land. Indeed, 

 the statistics show that this has already begun. 



It is a matter of interest to see whether the increase in 

 the ownership of land among the whites has kept pace 

 with the increase in the white population. In 1900, one 

 out of every nine or ten white persons in the state owned 

 some farming land. The owners stood in about the same 

 numerical relation to the total white population in i860. 

 From i860 to 1880, however, the owners of land in- 

 creased faster than the population ; in the next decade 

 the two rates of increase were about the same; while 

 from 1890 to 1900 the white population outran the in- 

 crease in white proprietorships. 1 It appears, therefore, 

 that now, as in i860, about every other white family in 

 Georgia owns land. 



1 These conclusions are based on population as given in the census 

 and on the proprietorships as given in the Appendix. 



