FARM MANAGEMENT IN CATAWBA COUNTY, N. C. 7 
allowing 5 per cent interest on the capital invested averaged $87 per 
farm for 1912 and $542 per farm for 1918. 
In addition to this labor income the farmers received house rent and 
what the farm furnished toward the family living. In 1918 this aver- 
aged $573 per farm. These figures were not obtained direct for 1912, 
but were calculated by applying 1912 prices to the quantities used 
in 1918. In 1912 this form of income averaged $328 per farm. 
DISTRIBUTION OF FARM AREA. 
The farm area for the 297 farms surveyed in 1912 averaged 121.1 
acres per farm, and for the 304 farms surveyed in 1918 it averaged 
111.5 acres per farm, or 9.6 acres less per farm (Table 3). 
Table 3. — Distribution of farm area on 297 farms for 1912 and 304 farms for 1918, 
Catawba County, N. C. 
Item. 
1912 
30 crop 
acres 
or 
under. 
30.1 
to 50 
crop 
acres. 
50.1 
to 70 
crop 
acres. 
Over 
• 70 
crop 
acres. 
All 
farms. 
1918 
30 crop 
acres 
or 
under. 
30.1 
to 50 
crop 
acres. 
50.1 
to 70 
crop 
acres. 
Over 
70 
crop 
acres. 
All 
farms. 
Number of farms 
Acres per farm 
Tillable area 
Crop area 
Acres rented out 
Tillable pasture . 
Idle land 
Untillable pasture. . . 
Woodland, pastured 
Woodland 
Waste 
73 
53.5 
30.2 
22.6 
.3 
3.2 
4.1 
3.1 
1.5 
16.0 
4.2 
112 
90.8 
50.5 
40.1 
62 
138. 5 
81.9 
60.0 
6.5 
3.9 
6.2 
3.2 
26.9 
7.2 
11.0 
10.9 
9.9 
6.5 
37.5 
9.2 
50 
265. 8 
153.5 
105.0 
.7 
25.0 
22.8 
19.6 
12.4 
73.1 
19.6 
297 
121.1 
50^8 
.2 
9.8 
8.6 
8.5 
5.0 
34.2 
9.0 
75 
53.0 
30.5 
22.8 
.7 
3.1 
3.9 
4.4 
2.9 
15.0 
3.1 
125 
91.2 
53.1 
39.1 
.8 
6.9 
6.3 
8.6 
5.6 
25.9 
3.6 
60 
129.2 
75.3 
58.5 
.8 
8.8 
7.2 
12.7 
9.7 
36.4 
4.8 
44 
244.8 
136.5 
101.6 
2.5 
21.8 
10.6 
21.7 
15.4 
75.4 
11.2 
304 
111.5 
64.0 
47.9 
1.1 
8.5 
6.5 
10.3 
7.2 
32.4 
4.8 
The crop area per farm averaged 42 per cent of the total farm area 
in 1912 and 43 per cent in»1918. In 1912, 12.4 per cent of the acreage 
of tillable land was lying idle or " resting," while in 1918 this area 
had been reduced to 10.1 per cent. " Resting land" has long been 
a practice throughout the South. With low-priced land the practice 
doubtless has been justified, but as values increase the interest on 
idle land becomes so great as to make the resting of land to restore 
its fertility no longer profitable. 
Table 4 shows the distribution of capital on the farms in 1912 and 
in 1918. Both years about four-fifths of the Capital on the farms was 
in real estate. In 1912 the value of real estate was $45 per acre and 
in 1918 $66, or 47 per cent higher. This increase was principally 
due to the general increase in land values that occurred through this 
region rather than to improvements on the farm. 
