Land Ownership 
In 1935 more than two-thirds of the land in the State 
was in farms. The average size, including farm woodland, 
of Georgia’s 250,000 farms was 101 acres, as compared 
with 155 acres in Iowa and in the Nation. According to 
the 1935 Census of Agriculture, although the small farms 
of less than 100 acres made up 69 percent of all the farms, 
the remaining 31 percent included more than 70 percent 
of the total farm area (table 5). 
Tasxe 5.—Number and acreage of farms according to size, 1935 
Size (acres) Farms Area 
Number Percent Acres Percent 
IgeSS PATOL ee ee yee 101, 330 40.5 2, 723, 126 10.8 
BO MOOO weve tate ait Ue 71, 143 28.4 4, 788, 358 18.9 
ROO ROO tere ethers Se SS 73, 154 29.2 | 12, 885, 872 50.9 
DOOITOMGOOE JS Me as bo ete 3, 587 1.4 | 2,352, 294 9.3 
3,000 andimore.- ss. 2c se 2 1, 330 5 2, 546, 872 10. 1 
sUNf0\ 24 Age ieee ek bea bot 250, 544 100.0 | 25, 296, 522 100. 0 
’ 
For all rural land in farm and nonfarm ownership com- 
bined, a supplemental study made in 1934 by the Forest 
Service in nine representative south Georgia counties 
revealed only 8 percent of the owners with tracts of 500 
acres and larger but holding 62 percent of the total area. 
In 24 counties of the lower piedmont of central and north- 
central Georgia, Hartman and Wooten ® found that, of the 
land listed on the tax digests, only 7 percent of the owner- 
ships were 500 acres and larger, but that these few large 
holdings included 38 percent of the total area. 
In Georgia, 66 percent of the farms were operated by 
tenants in 1935—except for Mississippi, the highest percent 
of tenancy in the Nation. According to the report? of 
February 1937 of the President’s Committee on Farm 
Tenancy, 
The percentage of farms operated by tenants is highest in the areas where 
the major staple cash crops are grown, and the lowest in the areas where 
livestock, specialized fruit and vegetable production, and subsistence 
farming are important. 
As of August 1934, there was in tax default for 3 or more 
years a total of 4) million acres, urban property not in- 
cluded, or 12 percent of the gross land area of the State, 
the areas of greatest chronic delinquency being chiefly in 
6 Hartman, W. A., ano H. H. Wooren. 
Georaia Acr. Expr. Sra. But. 191. 
GEORGIA LAND USE PROB- 
195 pp., illus. 1935. 
REPORT OF THE PRESI- 
73-+-6 pp. 1937. 
LEMS. 
7U. S. Nationa, Resources CommMirrEE. 
DENT’S COMMITTEE ON FARM TENANCY. [Processed.] 
10 
south Georgia. Since these data are now old, they are 
valuable only as an indication what can happen during 
periods of economic stress, but the State as a whole has 
suffered for many years in various degrees from nonpay- 
ment, or at least slow payment, of land taxes. 
Transportation 
The principal rivers—the Savannah, forming the eastern 
boundary of the State; the Chattahoochee, forming the 
western; and the Altamaha in the interior—were great 
thoroughfares of transportation as far north as the Fall 
Line (the heads of navigation are near Augusta, Columbus, 
and Macon respectively) until 1870, when the railroads put 
many of the river boats out of business; in recent years 
river trafic has been light. In addition to these three 
rivers there are several lesser streams—the Alapaha, With- 
lacoochee, Ogeechee, Satilla, and Flint Rivers, the last 
three being suitable for barges and rafts in their lower 
reaches. Many railroads with well-developed facilities 
serve the State. Also, a well-planned system of paved and 
gravel highways and of graded country roads makes prac- 
tically all parts of the State accessible. Only in the 
Okefenokee Swamp and in the Blue Ridge Mountains are 
there sizeable areas lacking transportation. 
Power 
According to the Federal Power Commission, in 1937 
there were about 65 power plants in Georgia, each having 
a capacity of 100 kilowatts or more; their total capacity 
was almost half a million kilowatts and their output for the 
Water- 
power plants, of which there were about 30 (included in the 
above) had a total capacity of approximately 320,000 
kilowatts and the output for the year aggregated about 
1% billion kilowatt-hours. 
year approximately 1% billion kilowatt hours. 
In addition, according to the 
Army Corps of Engineers, § there are more than 60 poten- 
tial water-power sites in Georgia not yet developed. Also 
the northern part of the State is within the region served by 
the Tennessee Valley Authority. Although lacking rich 
coal deposits, Georgia is advantageously located in respect 
to low-cost transportation of coal from the great coal fields 
in Alabama and Tennessee. 
8U. S. Corps or ENGINEERS. POTENTIAL WATER POWER SITES, AS 
SUMMARIZED FROM REPORTS BY THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO THE CONGRESS, 
23 maps. [1935.] 
