Newport weekly independent., 1901-04-25

previous census years.
 In nearly all counties the number of farms increased, rapidly in the last decade. Tn Chicot, Jefferson, Lincoln and Woodruff counties more than twice as many farms were reported in 1900 as in 1890, and in Desha, Little River, Poinsett, St. Francis and Scar cy counties the increases were nearly as great. Slight decreases were re- ported in Logan and Cleveland coun- ties.
 Increases in the total farm acreage and also in the acreage of improved land, were reported for all counties except Franklin. Grant and Pike. In Grant county both the total and im- proved acreages were less in 1900 than ten years before. The average size of farms, as rule, smallest for coun- ties of the cotton belt. but there are no very marked variations from the state average of 93.1 acres.
 For the state the average value of farms is $756.5O. In Benton, Chicot, Crittenden, Jackson, Jefferson, Law renee, Lonoke, Mississippi, Pulaski, Sebastian and Washington counties it is more than $1,000, while in a few counties it is less than $500. Most counties show substantial gains oyer the values reported in 1890.
 yTy1-. 41,< of implements and machinery has been relatively greater and more gen eral than that for any other item of farm property. A marked gain is shown for each county. and in num- Der of instances the valuation has more than doubled
 Lee and Logan are the only counties in which the value of live stock re- ported in 1900 was less than in 1890.
 The expenditure for labor in 1899 varied greatly in different sections of the state Tn the counties of the cot ton belt the average per farm was, as rule, much higher than in the north central and western counties. where diversified farming prevails. In the latter counties very little cash is ex- pended for labor; the farmers, as a rule, exchange work or pay in pro duce.
 Although the total expenditure for fertilizers in 1899 was considerably greater than in 1889, the average per farm is still less than $1. The use of commercial fertilizers in Arkansas is confined principally to land devoted to the cultivation of cotton.
 From 1850 to 1900 the population in creased from 209.897 to 1,311,564, or approximately skiold, and the number of farms from 17,75S to 17S,694, or more than tenfold. Consequently, the number of farms, and hence the mum Der of persons operating them, either as owners or tenants, increased faster than the population. This greater in crease was recorded for every decade excepting from 1880 to 1890
 For the fifty years covered by the foregoing comparisons, data concern ing the relative increase in the vari- ous classes of the farm population are available only for the period from 1870 to 1890 During those years the mum Der of farms, and hence of farm own CTS and tenants, increased approxi- mately 1924 per cent while the total state population increased but 1908 per cent. The number of males en- gagged in agriculture increased from 100,669 to 225,947 This gain of 1244 per cent represents, approximately, the rate of increase in the number of persons living on farms. In the same period the number of males working for wages on farms increased from 45,24S to 69,S03, or but 54.3 per cent In 1870 there was one farm owner, or tenant, for every 2.03 male workers on farms. In 1890 there was one for ev- cry 1.S0. In the earlier year there was one wage laborer for every 222 male workers on all kinds of farms, and in the later year one only for ev- cry SPA. The number of farm owners increased, approximately, 10 per cent faster than the agricultural popula- tion, while that population increased, approximately, 46 per cent faster than the number of male wage laborers In the earlier year there were 85 male