The record-union., 1892-02-17
TOtals................ e. 28527 s865,97S s67,8oO
Grand totals. 1886 81, 45O, 1853 $

Grand totals. 131 1856 81, 450 1853 500 500
From this it appears that slightly over
lalf the total acreage of the portion Of the
county considered, about 81 per cent. of
The arabic part, is owned by seventy-nine
DroprietorS whose separate holdings are
100 acres or more extent. The assess
,nent of their lands is 43 per cent. of the
total assessment Of land, and of the inn
DrOvements not quite IL per cent. Refer
ing to the tables given in Paper /. on
This subject, l,076 proprietors have 12S, 035
acres, about 43 per cent. of the total ara
Die area, assessed for 81 1856, 1902 or 81 Der
cent of the total, with Improvements as
heSSed at S540, 29S, or q trifie over So Der
cent of the total.
OF the seventy-nine tracts noted above.
only twenty in whole or in part, aggre,
eating 10000 acres are in the foothills.
and Of these last only three are irrigated
over comparatively small areas.
Though | have made no examination
Of the assessment rolls of back years my
personal knowledge is to the fact that the
tendency on the plains lands is to aggre-
cation in larger holdings, despite the oc-
CasionaI distribution of estates. No tracts
are now offered in subdivisions or have
been; indeed, under present conditions.
there is no demand there for small hold
jngs. In the foothills, on the contrary
the tendency is just the other way. at the
present time five of the twenty tracts are
offered for sale in subdivisions, and the
remainder, almost without exception
would be cut up if the water supply was
assured.
That large land-holdings, with their
necessary extensive culture as contrasted
with the intensive culture of small tracts.
are detriment to the best development
of the resources OF a country, by hinder
ing the growth of population and inn
proVement needs no argument. But the
EOndltlnn GOmntln1pS "a !,
than cause. That is, large Iand-hold-
lngs come as result of the decreasing
fertility of the soil, or decreasing rewards
Tor its special culture, rather than any
scrasplng, aVarlciouS tendency on the part
of land-owners growing out of increasing
FERTILITY or increasing rewards of culture.
This is, If anything, the case with the
plains lands of Placer County. Twenty
.YearS ago there We're more small farms
Than to-day; the soil was fertile and pro-
ductive, both in natural grasses for past
'lrage and IN return for wheat tillage.
stock and wheat both brought higher
prices. And 1t may be noted here that
the ground rent of land then being much
higher than now fixed a valuation for it
that remains in the minds of the owners
now, but is not an actuality based on the
present income from it. Every wear a
crop of wheat could be taken off the land.
now crop can be had only eV cry other
year. Then range would pasture two
head of stock to one now. Necessarily
with reduced incomes the smaller farms
had to be given up. The owners of
larger tracts also having smaller incomes
increased them by increasing their land
holdings from the smaller farms which
had ceased to pay. Large land holdings
thus came more as matter of economic
necessity for the decreasing acre income
of the land than from the choice of land
owners which would be a result of in
creased acre incomes. It is, of courae,
evident that though a limit Will come to
this shrinkage of acre incomes its results
are not desirable, and the sooner a change
N the other direction can be made the
better for our economic prosperity. The
lirst step in this direction is realization
of the existence of the fact of decreased
intrinsic value in land and the causes
of it.