20 BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
more important hay crop. Only 22 of the entire number of owner 
farms—378—grew no wheat in 1911. : 
TABLE IV.—Per cent of area in various crops by size of farms on 378 owner 
farms, Chester County. - 
ACT PTOUDS Sos. 3.5 coc 13 to 4U. | 41 to 60. | 61 to 80. | 81 to 100. |101 to 120.|121 to 160.| Over 160. | Ati farms. 
Number of farms..... 54 61 | 60 68 52 61 22 378 
| 
ROE occa wnt aye 23.7 22.1 20.5 19.6 20. 4 18. 2 18.3 19.8 
Sildo@ soso. os eee <6 a2 Teg: 2.0 3.0 2.8 cae 25 
Total eom=.- == 24.3 22.3 21.8 21.6 23. 4 21.0 24.0 POA 
IROTALOES 2 aren ee 7.9 8.5 5. 8 6.8 5.9 4.9 4.9 6.0 
Wiheate ss: sicc0eas- 17. 4 18.9 19.5 18.3 17.6 18.3 16.9 18.2 
OES SBS ere gape ree 4,8 9.9 6.3 6. 7 6.1 6.4 7.5 6.4 
Hay Baia taye eres eer ete 39.9 40. 2 44.3 43.8 42.7 47,2 44.6 44,0 
LD ete see eee 301 3.0 BG 20 3.8 1.9 155 2.5 
PBRUGK GS se oe eee 5 1.4 mit ait 2 zl 43° .3 
SHCCIahGs FD ees ee ee 2 Dub bse alee SE Lak he re fae ee | 
Miscellaneous 6...... 5 Foy a a ame ee 4 3 a2, 3 3 
otals=.. 109. 0 | 100. 0 | 100. 6 100. 0 100. 0 | 100. 0 100. 0 100. 0 
J } 
a Tobacco. b Millet, rye, etc. 
The percentage of oats increases slightly as the size of farm in- 
creases. This is because the smaller farms can ill afford to devote 
their scant acres to so unprofitable a crop. The owners of the larger 
farms can afford to indulge their fancy for this excellent but usually 
expensive horse feed. As will be pointed out later, it would probably 
pay to replace oats by an annual hay crop in this region. 
The percentage of hay acreage increases slightly with increase in 
size of farm. Hay is one of the most salable crop products produced 
in this region and brings excellent prices. Hay is also a crop which 
requires relatively little labor. The smaller farmer devotes more of 
his land to crops that give him more days’ work per acre. The larger 
farmer already has enough field work to keep him busy and can 
hence afford to put a larger proportion of his land in hay. 
Farms that carry a very large complement of live stock in this 
region put more of their land in corn and less in hay than those hav- 
ing less stock. They, of course, sell less hay, and the greater area of | 
corn saves buying a corresponding amount of concentrated feeding 
stutts. 
The fruit orchards of this region are almost entirely for home use. 
The actual acreage is about the same on farms of all sizes, which 
accounts for the gradual decrease in percentage area with increase 
im size of farm. 
Very little commercial vegetable growing is done in this area. 
What little is done, however, is seen to occupy a greater percentage 
area on the smaller farms, which is in keeping with the general ten- 
dency for small farms to be conducted more intensively than larger 
farms. If truck farming were well adapted to this area, there would 
undoubtedly be more of it, especially on the smaller farms. 
iat a 
