6 BULLETIN 1068, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
slightly larger than the relative increase in number of farm opera- 
tors. Since 1880 the total area planted to all crops has increased 
about 3.5 times. 
The decades of 1870 to 1880 and 1890 to 1900 were the two out- 
standing periods in the increase of the number of farm operators. 
If data on tenancy were available for the former decade, these two 
decades undoubtedly would also be shown as the outstanding periods 
as regards increase of tenants in the area. The increase in number 
of tenants in the single decade from 1890 to 1900 was 59.1 per cent 
of the total increase in tenants from 1880 to 1920. Therefore, a 
more intensified use of farm land has been the principal means 
whereby the great increase in farm operators has been met; and 
this use has taken the form of crop growing, so that in 1920, 89.6 
per cent of all improved land was in some kind of crops. 
Table 2. — Utilization of land for farming purposes in the black land, by decades, 
since I860. 1 
Census year. 
Total 
number 
of farms. 
Total 
number 
of acres 
in farms. 
Per cent 
of area 
of black 
land in 
farms. 
Per cent 
of farm 
land im- 
proved. 
Per cent 
of farm 
land in 
crops. 
1860 
7,036 
14,403 
45, 858 
60,513 
93, 141 
93,723 
94,169 
3,963,348 
3,251,056 
6,104,472 
6,920,337 
8,552,277 
9,018,607 
8, 535, 123. 
37.4 
30.7 
57.7 
65.4 
80.8 
85.2 
80.6 
11.7 
20.8 
46.7 
3 68.5 
64.4 
68.6 
76.3 
( 2 ) 
1870 
(*) 
1880 
27.3 
1890 
39.4 
1900 
54.1 
1910 
56.6 
1920 
65.5 
1 Computed from U. S. Census data. Data for 1860 slightly incorrect on account of county boundary 
changes. 
2 Data not available for these dates. 
8 This per cent is increased because of a change in the definition of improved land. 
CHANGES IN SIZE AND TYPE OF FARMS AS RELATED TO TENURE GROWTH. 
Practically all of the good agricultural land of the black land was 
granted to its original owners in holdings that were considerably 
larger than the average size of holding at present. The maximum 
amount of land ordinarily granted to a married man when Texas 
was an independent nation was a league and a labor (4,605 acres), 
and 640 acres after it became a State in the Union. The average size 
of holdings in the area was probably increased rather than decreased 
by the depression following the Civil War, which caused land values 
to decline and stock raising to continue as the principal farm enter- 
prise until 1870. By 1860 practically all good available agricultural 
land was patented in holdings of an average size much larger than 
the present average size of farms. 
After 1870, when great numbers of immigrants began to come into 
the black land, changing the system of farming to crop growing, 
many of the original owners of large tracts chose to retain owner- 
