Aiton’s Encyclopedia
A Practical Reference Library in Five Volumes — keyed from the public-domain original
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Farm

a tract of land devoted to raising stock and field crops. The United States census reports do not count gardens, truck patches under three acres, and uncultivated cattle ranges as farms.

UNITED STATES FARM STATISTICS FOR 1900.

Number of farms5,739,657
Average size in acres146.6
Total acreage of farms841,201,546
Number of acres improved414,793,191
Value of farm property$20,514,001,838
Average value of farms$3,574
Average value of farm land per acre$19.82
Value of farm implements$761,261,550
Value of farm products, 1900$4,739,118,752
Number of men engaged in farming8,771,181
Number work animals20,099,826
Value of domestic animals$2,981,722,945
Value of poultry$85,794,996
Value of bees$10,186,513
Value of buffaloes, deer, ostriches, peafowls, etc$345,587

In the issue for January 1, 1910, the Orange Judd Farmer gave out the following estimates:

Number of farms6,703,000
Value of farm property$29,730,000,000
Farm produce, 1909$9,545,000,000

The westward movement of farming in the United States may be understood by the statement that between 1850 and 1900 the center of the number of farms moved from ten miles west of Parkersburg, West Virginia, to a point in Wayne County, Illinois, 110 miles southeast of St. Louis. The center of farm values moved from near the same point to a point 39 miles northwest of Springfield, Illinois. The center of corn production moved from 86 miles southeast of Columbus, Ohio, to 54 miles southwest of Springfield, Illinois; the average center of wheat raising moved from 57 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio, to 70 miles west of Des Moines, Iowa. The center of oat raising shifted from the same locality to a point 58 miles north of Burlington, Iowa. About one third of the farms in the United States are occupied by tenants who pay a cash rent or give the owner of the land a share of the produce. Rather more than one-third of our people live on farms.

See Agriculture; Cattle; Horses; Sheep; Chickens

Volume II · Aiton’s Encyclopedia