847] Machinery and Labor 49 



portant part of that period, namely from 1880 to 1900, 

 it can be given with tolerable completeness. The fol- 

 lowing table shows the 



AVERAGE NUMBER OF ACRES IN AM, FARM CROPS,* PER FARM OF 

 TEN ACRES AND OVER IN 1880, 1890, and 1900.' 



1900 1890 1880 



United States 49.8 48.6 42.6 



North Atlantic div 35.1 35.7 33.7 



South Atlantic div 29.4 33.4 36.2 



North Central div 73.0 65.1 51.5 



South Central div 33.6 34.3 34.6 



Western div. 68.5 68.4 64.5 



This last table agrees, in a general, with the cor- 

 responding portion of the table showing the average 

 number of acres of improved land per farm ; but it is 

 to be noted that, according to the table now presented, 

 the average crop area per farm is less, for the years 

 1890 and 1900 than for the year 1880, in only two di- 

 visions ; namely, the South Atlantic and South Cen- 

 tral. In each of the other divisions, and for the United 

 States, as a whole, the average crop acreage per farm, 

 both for 1890 and 1900, is greater than in 1880. The 

 movement toward a larger average crop acreage is es- 

 pecially strong in the North Central division. 



The relative strength of the tendency toward a 

 greater average crop acreage per farm will be more 

 readily appreciated if the facts disclosed in the fore- 

 going table are presented from the basis of a common 

 denominator, as follows : 



1 For acreage in all farm crops see p. 102. 



2 Number of farms derived from Twelfth Census, Agriculture I, 

 pp. 688 and 690. 



