282 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



machinery. In the South, where cotton, for which harvesting 

 machinery is not required, is the principal crop, the average value of 

 implements and machinery per acre of land is naturally low. Much 

 less difference appears among the several divisions with respect to the 

 average value of live stock per acre, the maximum being $8 . 28 for the 

 East North Central division and the minimum $3 . 49 for the West 

 South Central. 



In considering the increases reported in the average value of the 

 various classes of farm property, per acre of land in farms, it should 

 be borne in mind that in the Southwest and West a large acreage of 

 land reported as farms in 1900 was not so reported in 1910, although 

 there was not necessarily any actual or at least any material change 

 in the extent to which such land was in fact used for agricultural pur- 

 poses. This change tends to exaggerate the increase in average values 

 per acre. 



The highest rates of increase in the average value of buildings per 

 acre were in the West South Central division, 132.4 per cent; the 

 Mountain, 106.8 per cent; the South Atlantic, 97.6 per cent; and 

 the Pacific, 89 . 9 per cent. In every state the average value of build- 

 ings per acre of land in farms was higher in 1910 than in 1900; in 

 Arizona and Oklahoma it was more than three times as great; and 

 in 1 6 other states it was more than double. The country as a whole 

 shows an increase between 1900 and 1910 of 52.6 per cent in the 

 average value of live stock per acre of land in farms. The highest 

 percentage of gain was in the South Atlantic division, 89 . 8 per cent, 

 while the lowest was in the Mountain division, 24 . i per cent. Among 

 the states the highest rate of increase, 160.3 P er cent > was shown in 

 Arizona; and in three other states, Georgia and the two Carolinas, 

 the value more than doubled during the decade. The only states 

 showing a decline were New Mexico (37.5 per cent) and Colorado 

 (1.7 per cent). The actual value of the live stock in both these states 

 was much greater in 1910 than in 1900, but the acreage of farm land 

 increased in still greater ratio. 



The average value of implements and machinery per acre of all 

 land in farms has been given. The use of implements and machinery, 

 however, is largely confined to improved farm land and more par- 

 ticularly to that portion occupied by crops. The average value of 

 implements and machinery per acre of improved land in farms in 1910 

 was much higher in the New England and Middle Atlantic divisions 

 than in any other and was lowest in the East South Central division. 

 The average value based on land in crops was also highest in the two 



