290 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



Year Admitted to 



Union 



Number of Farms 



Average Size 

 (Acres) 



1850 



North Carolina 

 South Carolina 

 Georgia . . . 

 Florida . . . 

 Alabama . . 

 Mississippi . . 

 Louisiana . . 

 Tennessee . . 

 Arkansas . . 

 Texas .... 



Original member 

 Original member 

 Original member 



1845 

 1819 

 1817 

 1810 

 1796 

 1836 

 1845 



56,963 

 29,967 



51,759 

 4>34 

 41,964 

 33.96o 

 13,422 



72,735 

 17,758 

 12,198 



75,203 



33- I 7i 

 62,003 

 6,568 

 55,^8 

 42,840 

 17,328 

 82,368 

 39,004 

 42,891 



369 

 54i 

 441 



37i 

 289 



309 

 372 

 261 

 146 

 942 



316 

 488 

 43 

 444 

 346 

 370 

 536 

 251 

 245 

 59i 



The average size of farms in the ten cotton states in 1850 

 was 273 acres. The size of cotton plantations, however, is said 

 to have seldom been less than 400 acres. Some of the planta- 

 tions contained over 10,000 acres. There were in these same 

 states in i860, 3634 farms of more than 1000 acres each; 

 12,187 f more than 500 and less than 1000 acres, and 113,625 

 containing from 100 to 500 acres each. 



In 1850 there were but 74,031 cotton plantations in the United 

 States which produced more than 5 bales each. This divided 

 into the estimated acreage of that year would give us approxi- 

 mately 675 acres as the average amount of arable land devoted to 

 cotton production on each plantation within the 10 cotton states. 



With the large plantations there naturally went large gangs 

 of slaves. There were 347,525 families reported as holding 

 slaves in 1850, but this number was too large, for, as Helper 

 has pointed out, it included slave hirers. There were 2 persons 

 reported by this census as holding each more than 1000 slaves; 

 9 who held more than 500 and less than a thousand ; 56 holding 

 from 300 to 500; 187 from 200 to 300; and 1479 from 100 

 to 200. Whether or not these large slave properties were held 

 by the holders of the large landed properties cannot be stated 

 definitely. There is little doubt but that this was the case how- 

 ever, for with few exceptions the slaves were employed almost 

 exclusively in agriculture. 



