The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-08-14
VALUE OF FARMS.
CENSUS SHOWS RAPID ADVANCE
IN WASHINGTON.
Total Area in Farms Now Twenty
three Times Greater Than 1t
Was Thirty Years Ago---Remark-
able Increase in All Farming
Property.

Seattle, Aug. 1.-THE returns from
the twelfth census shows that Washing
ton is advancing with rapid strides as
an agricultural state. The total area
in farms is more than % times as great
as it was 80 years ago, and more than
double that of 1890. For the past 80
years there has been steady increase
in the average size of farms, which is
largely the result of additions to ranges
recently taken from the public domain
and enumerated as farm lands for the.
first time in the last census. There has
been remarkable increase in the value
of every form of farming property dur
ing the past 40 years. In the last de-
cade the gain in the total value of farm
ing lands reached the enormous amount
of $40, 3l5,577.
The number of farms increased in the
last decade in all counties except
Columbia and Garfield. In over one
half of the counties more than twice as
many farms were reported. Kitsap
county alone reports decrease in its
total farm area, all others showing SUBJ
stantial gains since 1890. The average
size of farms for the state is 256 acres,
and varies from 65.3 acres in Kitsap
county to ,664.7 acres in Franklin
county. The average size of farms is
largest in the Eastern counties, where
cereals and stock raising are the lead
ing agricultural pursuits. Two-thirds
of the counties report an increase in the
value of farms in the last ten years.
OF the counties reporting decreases
only one is situated in the Eastern part
OF the state. The average value of
farms for the state is $3,482.
Marked increases are reported for all
counties except Kitsap in the value of
implements and machinery, and de-
creases in the value of livestock are re-
ported for only the three Eastern coun-
ties of Columbia, Garfield and Spokane.
In the livestock and cereal counties the
average was, as rule, much higher
than in the western counties, where
diversified farming prevails. The total
number of farms increased 1858, or
408.5 per cent. in the last two decades.
The total expenditure for labor on
farms in 1899, including the value of
board furnished, was IS, 2S0, 100, an
average of $3.50 per farm. Fertilizers
purchased in 1899 cost only 500. l65, an
average of less than 81 90 per farm, but.
almost three times the amount expend-
ed in 1899.
OF the 33,202 farms of the state,
3.5l3, or 1915 per cent, were irrigated
in 1899. OF the total improved acre
age, SO per cent. was irrigated. Alfal-
ia, vegetables and fruits are generally
relied upon to give the highest returns
where water is available. Irrigation in
Eastern Washington has greatly IN
creased land values. In counties where
irrigation is parcticed, the farm values
steadily increase in proportion to the
extent to which irrigation is carried on.
The value of all live stock on farms
and ranges, June l, 1900, was $22, 1884,
207.
Each decade since 1850 showed
marked increase in the amount of wool
grown. More than three times as much
wool was reported in 1900 as in 1890.
The value of all vegetables produced
in the state in 1899, including potatoes,
sweet potatoes, and onions, was $2,-
355. 1866.