FAKM OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY IN TEXAS. 
11 
number of farm operators in the 19 black-land counties increased 
during this decade scarcely one-half of 1 per cent. On the other 
hand, land in farms increased 5.4 per cent. 
That the rapid increase in the value of land in this area was closely- 
related to the trend of the value of the products that were produced 
on the land is indicated by Figure 2, which shows the movement of 
land values, and the movement of the values of the corn, small grain, 
and cotton produced on the land. 8 In general, the movement of the 
curves are quite close together after 1890, when the present system 
of agriculture became fairly well established. Were data on annual 
land values available the curves would probably move more closely 
together. 
300 
250 ■ 
200 
150 
100 
50 
1 1 1 1 1 I 
S"HEAT AND COTTON (WEIGHTED BY TOTAL 
ACREAGE GROWN IN BLACK LAND.) 
•— — - MOVEMENT OF THE AVERAGE VALUE OF 
LAND PER ACRE 
/ 
A 
/ 
/ 
S 
^""a 
v^ 
— — 
A/ 
"" 
.— ■— - 
i 
300 
250 
200 
150 
100 
50 
1S69 
1S7>+ 1279 
1SSU 
1SS9 1S9 1 * 1S99 1904 1909 19IU 1919 
Fig. 2. — Movement of the average value of land per acre and of the prices of the 
principal products raised on farms, for the black land of Texas. 
The rapid increase in land values during the past two decades is, 
therefore, primarily the results of an increase in the productive 
power of the land (measured in terms of dollars), which has re- 
flected itself in higher prices for land. However, war-time prices of 
8 The index figures of the value of the principal crops raised on the land were calculated 
as follows : The average annual farm prices of corn, oats, wheat, and cotton, as given by 
Yearbooks of the United States Department of Agriculture, were expressed in price per 
pound. These prices were weighted by the respective acreage of these crops grown in the 
black land as reported by each decennial United States Census, the acreages given by each 
census being used to weight prices for the four years preceding the census year, for the 
census year, and for the five years following the census year. These weighted figures for 
the price of each of the four crops were added together for each year, and their sum was 
the figure from which the index figure, on the value of products raised in the black land 
for each year, was calculated. The census year 1909 was taken as the base. 
