UTILIZATION OF LAND 7 



Proportion of Land in Farms 



In Chart 3 the percentage of assessed town acreage owned by non-residents is 

 plotted on the curve in ascending succession, beginning with the lowest figure, and 

 is compared with the curve representing the percentages of acreage in farms for 

 the same towns grouped in 10-town averages. From observation of this curve it 

 will be noticed that there is a tendency, although not entirely regular, for the 

 percentage of land owned by non-residents to be higher where the proportion of 

 land in farms is lower. The numerical e.x:pression of this tendency will be found in 

 the fact that the half of the towns with the lowest percentage of assessed land 

 owned by non-residents has 53.1 per cent of the area in farms, while the upper 

 half has only 45.6 per cent. The fact that a high degree of non-resident land 

 ownership is associated with a small proportion of land in farms in individual 

 towns provides a basis for judgment as to where this type of ownership is the 

 most prevalent. In the towns where the recreational uses of land are insignificant, 

 non-resident land ownership was found to have been caused almost invariably by 

 the withdrawal of large areas of land from agriculture. 



PERCENTAGE. 

 IOC 



75 



25 



oo 



75 



Chart 3. — Percentage of Town Area in Farms as Compared with Percentage Owned by 

 Non-Residents, 71 Massachusetts Towns. 



Proportion of Improved Land in Farms 



A further analysis connected with the economic and physical conditions of farm 

 land throws some light on the nature and extent of this dependence. In Chart 4 

 the proportion of non-resident land ownership is considered in connection with 

 improved land in farms, following the procedure explained for Chart 3. A general 

 inspection of the two curves leads again to the conclusion that in general the per- 

 centage of non-resident land ownership is greater in the towns where the propor- 

 tion of improved land in farms is smaller, or in other words where the farms are 

 poorer. This condition is further substantiated by the numerical averages for the 

 percentages of improved land in farms, with the lower half of the towns of the basic 

 curve having 36.2 percent of the farm land in an improved condition, and the upper 

 half an average of only 31 per cent. In general practice the first step in the process 

 of abandonment of farm land is the decrease in improved acreage on individual 



