4 BULLETIN 1269, T. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Tobacco production on a plantation scale occurs in the South 
Atlantic States, in some cases as the principal enterprise, but more 
often jointly with cotton. Cotton embraces the remainder of the 
plantation area represented by the census data of 1910, except 
where cotton production has been made unprofitable by boll-weevil 
infestation. 
Erf rut and importance of plantation farming. — Some idea of the 
importance of the plantation system may be gained by an examina- 
tion of the data obtained by the plantation census of 1910. This 
census included 325 counties of 11 Southern States, the outstanding 
facts of which are shown in Table 1. 
Table 1. — Number, acreage, and value of plantations using croppers and tenants 
primarily l 
dumber of croppers and tenant; 
All classes 5 to 9 
10 to 19 
20 to 49 50 or more 
Number of plantations 
Total acreage 
Improved acreage 
Total value of land and buildings 
Percentage of improved acreage 
in each group 
22, 157 
19, 219. 098 
9, 569. 705 
$440, 456, 195 
100.0 
14, 861 
8. 568, 855 
4. 293, 487 
$189, 138, 833 
44.9 
5.336 
6. 150, 486 
3, 016. 191 
$138, 085, 521 
31.5 
1.734 
3, 546, 782 
1, 786, 172 
$87, 542, 053 
18.7 
226 
952. 975 
473, 855 
2 $25, 689, 788 
4.9 
i The data in this table are obtained from Table 10, Plantation Farming in the United States, report of 
Bureau of the Census, 1916. It is the opinion of the present officials of the Bureau of the Census who had 
charge of the plantation study in 1910 that the "tenant plantations with complete reports," together with 
wage-labor plantations shown in Table 2, practically represent the extent of the plantation system in the 
South. Therefore, the 16,916 "tenant plantations without complete reports." reported in the census 
publication, are not included in this study. 
2 This item does not correspond exactly to census figures, owing to misprint in the census table. 
In the selected plantation area, 22,157 plantations were reported 
as using 5 or more croppers or tenants. These plantations contained 
19,219,098 acres, of which 9,569.705, or a little less than half, was 
improved. Of the improved acreage, 5,276,218 acres were reported 
in farms with 10 or more croppers or tenants. The combined value 
of the land and buildings of all such plantations amounted to $440.- 
456,195, of which $251,317,362 was reported for plantations with 10 
or more croppers or tenants. 4 
By comparison, the total area of these plantations was approxi- 
mately equal to the total area of the farm land of Michigan or Ten- 
nessee, a little less than that of Indiana, and over 2,000,000 acres 
more than the total farm-land area of the New England States; 
while their value, together with the value of plantations primarily 
using wage labor (Appendix A), was practically equal to the total 
value of all farm land and improvements in Virginia. 
Some counties containing plantations are not represented in the 
selected area, and some of the counties represented are only slightly 
concerned wit h plantation fanning, as indicated by the map in Figure 
2. For example, 22 counties in the 11 States in 1910 had 5 per cent 
or less of improved land in plantations. Of the 325 counties in the 
plantation region, only 14 reported 50 per cent of the improved land 
* Ml statistical data representing plantations in the total area arc derived, in the main, from the result 
of the Bureau of the Census. For the use of these data, special acknowledgment is duo William 
Austin, chi.f statistician for agriculture, United states Bureau of the Census, who made ail statis- 
tical m tei 1 I bli ipful advice throughout the compilation. 
