CHAPTER 8 



SIZE OF FARM AND OTHER FACTORS IN DIFFER- 

 ENT REGIONS IN THE UNITED STATES 



FIGURES on the average size of farm for the United States 

 are hard to interpret, because greenhouses, arid ranges, 

 and many other equally striking contrasts are all averaged 

 together. There are few states that have a sufficiently 

 uniform type of farming to make the figures of much sig- 

 nificance. But it is possible to select counties in which 

 nearly all the farms are of one type. The best way to 

 study any problem in agriculture is to select a region that 

 is an agricultural unit. 



The counties here compared show conditions and tend- 

 encies in the corn-belt, the cotton-belt, truck-growing 

 region, hard winter wheat region, spring wheat region, 

 irrigated region, and semi-arid region. 



173. A county in the cotton-belt. Dallas County, 

 Alabama, is a region of good soils. Its farms were typical 

 large plantations before the war. In 1860, there were 

 7785 white persons in the county and 25,760 slaves. The 

 colored population has increased faster than the white. 

 In 1910, there were 9890 white persons and 43,511 

 negroes. One in 10 of the farmers in 1910 was white. 

 The farmers are so largely negroes that the county may 

 be used to study the adjustment of size of farm and other 

 factors to farming by negroes. 



The Census does not give the size of farms by counties 



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