THE SIZE OF FARMS 



TABLE IX 

 FARMS IN THE UNITED STATES CLASSIFIED BY AREA, 1910 



155 



While there is no one proper size for farms in general, there 

 is always a proper size of farm for a given man, at a given stage 

 of his own development, on a given type of soil, in a given line 

 of production, with given labor and market conditions. In 

 general, cotton farms are smaller than wheat farms. For ex- 

 ample, the average area of improved land in farms in Bell 

 County, Texas, where more than half the improved land is in 

 cotton, was about 70 acres in 1910, whereas the average was 

 about 270 acres in Barton County, Kansas, where more than 

 half the improved land was in wheat. If Washington County, 

 Mississippi, is compared with Cass County, North Dakota, 

 the contrast is even more striking. In the former county, 

 the average area of improved land in farms is 23 acres ; in the 

 latter it is about 470. In the Mississippi county, over 47 per 

 cent of the improved land was in cotton, while in the Dakota 

 county 44 per cent was in wheat. 



These facts indicate that the crop grown is a factor in deter- 

 mining the size of farms ; but that this force is not operating 

 alone is shown by the wide range in the size of wheat farms and 

 of cotton farms. In general, the cotton farms of the black 

 prairie of Texas are larger than the cotton farms of the Yazoo 

 delta in Mississippi, as is indicated by the counties compared 



