FARM MACHINERY 



63 



The Effect of the Use of Machinery upon the Size of Farms and 

 the Resulting Relationship between the Dependent and the Inde- 

 pendent Farming Classes 



The average size of farms of the continental United States and 

 in the several divisions, as shown by the successive census returns 

 from 1850 to the present, given in acres, is as follows : ^ . 



An inspection of the foregoing table shows that for the period 

 from 1850 to 1880, for the whole United States and for each 

 division, except the South Central, in i860, there was a constant 

 tendency toward smaller farms. In the North Atlantic and South 

 Central divisions this tendency is shown to have been still in oper- 

 ation in 1 890, and the average size of farms in the North Atlantic 

 division in 1900, although greater than in 1890, was still a trifle 

 below the average shown for 1880, In the South Atlantic division 

 the tendency toward smaller farms has continued unbroken to the 

 present time ; but otherwise, for the several divisions and for the 

 United States as a whole, the year 1880 marks the point of 

 the smallest average-sized farms. The returns subsequent to that 

 date, except in the cases noted, show a marked increase in the 

 average size of farms. 



The total area in farms may, however, be somewhat misleading 

 when considered as an index of the extent of farming operations 

 subject to the influence of machinery, as will clearly appear upon 

 a comparison of the data in the table last above given with those 

 of the following table showing the average number of acres of 

 improved land, per farm, 1850-19CXD, inclusive.^ 



1 Twelfth Census, Agriculture, Vol. I, p. 688. 

 ^ Ibid., p. xxii. 



