97 The Agricultural Economy of the American Bottoms 
The 781 farms which comprise the agricultural area of the American 
Bottoms have an average acreage of 82.9, which is substantially lower 
than the average of 127 for the Southwestern Area.1 More than two- 
fifths of the farms have an area of forty acres or less; more than nine- 
tenths have an area of 160 acres or less (Fig. 7). However, the farms 
which do not exceed forty acres include only 12.5 per cent of the total 
acreage in farms; the farms which do not exceed 160 acres include only 
65.5 per cent of the total acreage in farms (Fig. 8). 
It is significant that the 781 ownership farms? are operated by only 
578 farmers who control an average acreage of 112.02. Of the farmers, 
31.9 per cent operate forty acres or less; 57.3 per cent operate eighty 
acres or less; and 81.3 per cent operate 160 acres or less (Fig. 9). Many 
of the farmers operate on a relatively small scale, but some operate on 
a relatively large scale. 
Almost two-thirds of the farms of the American Bottoms have 1m- 
provements (Fig. 10). Farms with an acreage of 160 or less account 
for 88.1 per cent of all sets of improvements (Fig. 11). Only 62.9 per 
cent of all such farms have improvements, however, in contrast to 
96.8 per cent of all farms with an acreage in excess of 160. Although 
the American Bottoms has 578 farmers, there are only 513 sets of im- 
provements. Most of the sixty-five farmers who do not live on the land 
they cultivate are truck gardeners who live in cities or villages, or 0” 
other farms with relatives. 
Farms with improvements have an average acreage of 99.31. Many 
of them are too small, considering the type of agricultural economy 
practiced, to permit an economical use of modern labor-saving machin- 
ery. Consequently an active demand exists for rentable farms. Although 
it is not unusual for a farmer to cultivate a parcel of Jand located some 
distance from the farm on which he lives, most rented land is operated 
by farmers on contiguous farms. Most of the farmers who care for forty 
acres or less are truck gardeners who have an ample acreage considering 
the intensive farming methods used. If this group of farmers is omitted, 
the remaining 394 farmers, practically all of whom live on farms which 
they operate, have an average acreage of 154.05. A combination of owner- 
ship farms for farming purposes provides for many farmers living 0? 
relatively small ownership farms an acreage which is considered ample 
SSUES oat Se Nae co eee 
\[bid, p. 181. 
2A continuous tract of land treated by the owner as a unit. 
