658 The Agricultural Statistics of the United States. 
Farm Area. — The total area in farms comprises 41 - 6 p. c. under 
tillage, 11*5 p. c. in grass-lands, 35'5 p. c. in woodland, and 11*4 p. c. 
unproductive. The tillage-area attains its highest percentage (65 - 6) 
in Illinois, its lowest (19 - 4) in Wyoming. Grass-lands are at their 
maximum (39 p. c.) in Vermont, and at their minimum (1"3 p. c.) in 
Alabama and Arkansas. Woodland ranges from 66*3 p. c. in Florida 
to 03 p. c. in Utah. The unproductive area reaches 67"6 in Dakota, 
and only 1*9 p. c. in Vermont. 
Farm Tenures. — The total number of farms is 4,008,907, of which 
74 - 5 per cent, are cultivated by the owners, 8 per cent, by tenants 
paying a money rental, and the remaining 17 - 5 per cent, by tenants 
paying a share of the produce. The States in which more than 90 
per cent, of the farms are cultivated by the owners are — Wyoming, 
97 - l per cent. ; Dakota, 96 - l ; Maine, 95-7 ; Utah, 95 - 4 ; Idaho, 
95-3; Montana, 94-7; Washington, 92-8 ; New Hampshire, 91-9; 
New Mexico, 91 '9 ; Massachusetts, 91 - 8 ; Minnesota, 90 - 9 ; Wisconsin, 
90 - 9 ; Nevada, 90'3. The lowest percentage (49 -7) is in South 
Carolina. The money-rental system varies between 23 - 4 per cent, 
of the farms in South Carolina and 0 - 4 p. c. in Dakota and New 
Mexico. Farms rented by tenants who pay a stipulated share of 
the produce range from 36 6 per cent, in Delaware to 1*8 p. c. in 
Maine and Wyoming. As a matter of fact, the share-tenants are 
to be found chiefly in the cotton States of the South and East. It 
appears that the freedman-occupants are generally tenants in name 
only, with a pretence of independent occupancy, living, not on 
separate farms, but on temporary subdivisions of land, without any 
substantial appurtenances of a farm, and without the capital neces- 
sary to equip a man as a working farmer. 
Value of Lands. — The average value of lands throughout the 
States is 41. per acre. In nine States the .average exceeds this by 
upwards of 70 per cent. : — Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan ; 
of these New Jersey is highest (131. Is. per acre), and Delaware 
lowest (7/.). On the other hand, four States, all in the, South, fall 
more than 70 per cent, below the average : — South Carolina, 1/. Is. 
per acre ; Texas, 19s. ; Georgia, 18s.; and Alabama, 17s. 
Maize. — This is the most generally cultivated crop, and is grown 
in forty-one States ; it occupies the largest area, and produces the 
greatest value of any crop in arable culture. The total area in maize, 
according to the Returns of 1888, is 75,672,763 acres, representing 
41 per 1,000 acres of the entire land surface, and equivalent to more 
than Jwice the area of England and Wales. Maize is most largely 
cultivated in Delaware, Maryland, and the compact group of ciidit. 
States comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee, all of which grow more than 100 acn I 
per 1,000 of total area. The premier position is taken by Iowa, with 
219 acres per 1,000 ; whilst of the States named, Ohio is lowest, with 
110 acres of maize per 1,000. In the group of eight States mentioned, 
