164 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 193. 



A peculiarity of the industry is the relatively large acreage per growcT. 

 Table 15 shows the number of farms, the number of growers and the num- 

 ber of growers operating two or more farms, with the average acreage in 

 each case. It will be seen that the average acreage per grower increased 

 during the first three of the years indicated, falling again in 1918. The 

 decline in this year was due in part to the appearance of 20 new producers 

 of shade-grown tobacco, whose average acreage was but 35.2 acres. With- 

 out these the average acreage would have shown an increase greater than 

 that of the previous years. 



There seems to be a tendency toward concentration of the shade-grown 

 industry in the hands of one large company operator, the proportion of the 

 total area controlled by this company ranging from 14.3 per cent in 1915 

 to 21.7 per cent in 1918. 



Table 16. — Farms classified by Acreage of Shade-grown Tobacco, 1915-18.. 



Several things militate against the small grower, such as the high initial 

 expense and the cost of production. The syndicates have the capital to 

 tide them over the "off year," which frequently occurs in the tobacco busi- 



