A BULLETIN 874, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
It is clear that the advance of land values in Iowa is only part of. 
a general rapid upward trend of land values, the average increase for 
all the States amounting to $17.35 per acre, or 21.1 percent. In only 
one State, California, have land values declined during the year. Even 
in New England the value of farm lands increased over $10 an acre, 
or 16.2 per cent, the increase being most marked in Massachusetts 
and Connecticut. In the other Atlantic States the increase in value 
per acre was most notable in the Carolinas, reflecting the influence of 
high prices for cotton, ‘‘bright’’ tobacco, and peanuts. The in- 
creases for Virginia od West Virginia were comparatively small. 
The increases in values in the other Atlantic States are between the 
two extremes. The largest average increase per acre in the United 
States, but not the largest percentage of increase, occurred in Iowa, 
followed by Arizona and Illinois. Throughout the States ie 
largely 1 in the Corn Belt there were increases per acre ranging from 
$21 in Ohio to $63 in Iowa, with the exception of Kansas, where the 
increase was only $11. 
In States characterized by a fait degree of uniformity in agricul- 
tural resources, as in many of the States in the Corn Belt, averages 
for the State as a whole are frequently not indicative of the move- 
ment of values in certain sections. Thus, the increase for Kentucky 
averages only $4 an acre, yet in the Blue Grass Region there has been 
a very marked increase in farm land values and extraordinary activity 
in the buying and selling of land. There has been a considerable 
increase in the value of farm lands in Michigan, but the average for 
the State is low because of the influence of the large areas of cut-over 
lands in parts of the State. In the South the percentages of increase 
are large, although they do not represent large increases per acre. 
INCREASE IN THE AVERAGE VALUE PER ACRE OF IOWA. FARM LAND 
SINCE 1850. 
TasLe II.—IJncrease in the average value of improved farm land in Iowa from 1250 to 
March 1, 1920. 
a Value | Increase a Value | Increase 
Year per acre. | per acre. Y ear: per acre. | per acre. 
Boia OG spear ee EN nar are aed SOnO9R| eee LOL SRE a eee rae pera ne ea $134. 00 $38. 00 
TLS, 0 a ie es ASS A TOS NIT ae ea 11.91 B5s SA clit G cree Ries eee age oie ee 153. 00 00 
ASG OE Sister ei tee Ncsine nea saMianerek he 20. 21 Ee AO eal hed AOU fpanarn he cea a aera Tica ci a 8 156. 00 3.00 
SSO aaa Ds epee Maa le aie aoe Ries 22.92 DiisGleal| LOU Se eee Seety RSet eae ete rae Neat 174.00 18.00 
S130 () Bese ahs oes NE Noes er Be ae 28.13 PED Ls AL OIRO peu mae ey Ole tee tiene em 192.00 18.00 
ILC TOO) Ie Riese a een erates Hed 43.31 0 Uap keoya lea HO P10) ace ahem Oe ere ey sty eae eae eds 255. 00 63.00 
DGGE (OAPs Me eS AE a a 96. 00 52.69 
The statistics for the years 1850 to 1910, inclusive, are from the 
Federal census. The statistics for 1915 to 1920, inclusive, are from 
unpublished data furnished by the Bureau of Crop Estimates, United 
States Department of Agriculture. 
