16 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



More than one-half the farms were established since 

 1870, and this is an indication that the business, as a 

 whole, is prospering. ''So far as reported, there were 

 but two seed -farms in the country previous to 1800 

 (one of these was established in Philadelphia in 1784, 

 and the other at Enfield, New Hampshire, in 1795), 

 only 3 in 1820, 6 in 1830, 19 in 1840, 34 in 1850, 53 in 

 1860, 100 in 1870, 207 in 1880, and 200 more were 

 established between 1880 and 1890, leaving 189 unac- 

 counted for as to date of establishment. But, as the 

 proprietors of the older seed -farms take great pride in 

 this matter, it is safe to assume that 90 per cent of the 

 unreported farms have come into existence within the 

 last twenty years. ''Of the 596 seed-farms in the 

 United States, 258, or nearly one-half, are in the North 

 Atlantic division, the original center of seed produc- 

 tion. These farms have an acreage of 47,813, or 

 an average of 185 acres per farm, while in the 

 North Central division there are 157 farms, with an 

 acreage of 87,096, or an average of 555 acres per 

 farm. The seed -farms of Massachusetts and Connecti- 

 cut average 142 acres per farm, while those of Iowa 

 and Nebraska are 695 acres in extent, and are pro- 

 ducing seeds on a scale of equal magnitude to the 

 other products of that section of the country. Several 

 of these .seed -producing farms embrace nearly 3,000 

 acres each.'^ 



"From general information obtained from the seed- 

 farmers, and a study of the figures in this bulletin, it 

 appears that this branch of agriculture has kept fully 

 apace with the general march of national progress. 



