Source: New Hampshire Agricultural Census. 1920. ^^lacliine Sheets Federal Farm 

 Census, Bureau of Census, 1930, 1935, 1940. 1945. 



tional trends for the numJjer of farms to decrease generally, but apparently 

 more than chance is at work to produce the concurrent series represented 

 by the number of acres in farms and the number of farms. The New Hamp- 

 shire resources are such as to support a given number of farms, but in 

 some areas these farms must be larger than others if the enterprise is 

 to be successful. 



Farm Value 



To check this further, the average value of all farm property in increasing 

 and decreasing towns was compared. These could be secured only for the 

 years 1935, 1940, and 1945. To make the data comparable, the dollars were 

 standardized with the General Wholesale Price Index, all commodities, 

 1926 = 100. See Table 11. 



The average value of farm property decreased regularly for both samples 

 from 1935-1945, but the extent of the drop in value was greater in the 

 decreasing towns. As a result, the average difference in value decreased be- 

 tween the two samples. In 1945, the average value of farm property in the 

 sample of increasing towns was higher than that in the sample of decreas- 

 ing towns. If the hypothesis of equilibrium has any validity, there may be 

 further net out-migration from the decreasing towns. The values are so 

 nearly alike that they may represent the closest approximation of equilibrium 



19 



