AGRI CULTIFRE. Agriculture is the leading in dustry. Yet the largest part of the swampy coast land is unreclaimed, and there is also much waste land in the mountainnus area of the west. In 1900. 73.2 per cent. of the land surface was included in farms—the largest per eent. recorded since 1860. While tlw per cent. of improved land is still small, being in 1900 only 36.6 of the farm land, there was a large gain from 1850 to 1900, the corresponding figures for 1850 being 26.0. The most remarkable agricultural] development of that half century was the change from large to small farms, the average size having decreased steadily from 368.6 acres in 1850 to 11)1.3 acres in 1900. This decrease is a mart of the general process which the overthrow of slavery precipi tated. Negroes who were formerly slaves on large plantations became renters or owners of small Also the holding of the white farmer was reduced more nearly to an area which it was possible to cultivate by his own cif r s. In 1900, 21.4 per cent. of the farms were operated by colored farmers, the average size of the farms being 53.6 acres, or less than half that of the farms operated by white farmers. The per cent. of rented farms is high, having been 41.4 per cent. of the total number of farms in 1900. Renting is much more common among the ncgroes than among tiny whites, the percentage of renters among each being respectively 68.0 and 33.4. In the western counties, where nearly all the farmers are white, the share system of renting prevails. Among the colored farmers of the cotton-growing counties the cash and share tenants are about equal. The negro farmers usually mortgage their crops.
As may be inferred from the paragraphs un der Topography, there is a great diversity of agricultural products, three agricultural sec tions being recognized. These are the east ern or coastal plain region, containing much sandy and barren soil; the middle or Piedmont section, more undulating, and with a soil more fertile and better adapted to diversified farming; the western or mountainous section, character ized by a fertile loam and best suited to grazing and the raising of temperate zone crops. The crop which stands out prominently as to acreage is corn, the acreage for 1900 exceeding 47 per cent. of the total crop area, and the receipts equaling 25.2 per cent. of the total crop receipts. Since the Civil War the corn acreage has steadily increased.
Wheat, the next most prominent cereal, has only one-fourth as large an acreage. The acreage devoted to oats and rye each decreased one-half from 1890 to 1900. The yield per acre of all these crops is very low. The acreage of hay and forage crops is comparatively small. The two crops which yield the largest receipts from sales are cotton and tobacco. The acreage of each fluctuates greatly. An increase in one usually is accompanied by a decrease in the other, the respective acreages being determined by the rise or fall in the price of one or the other crop. The State ranks about eighth as a cotton State. and cotton does not hold the domi nant position it maintains in the Commonwealths farther south. Ilowever, there was a very de cided increase in production from 1850 to 1900, the crop for 1900-459,707 bales—being over three times that of 1850. The utilization of the seed has greatly increased the value of the cotton yield.
Likewise there has been a large increase in the attention given to tobacco-raising. From 1890 to 1900 the acreage was more than doubled, and North Carolina took rank next to Kentucky. The State holds third rank in the production of peanuts and second in the production of sweet potatoes. The former are grown most exten sively in the northeastern counties. They are, however, put on the market bearing the Virginia label, being sold to Virginia factories. The area of production increased enormously during 1890 ' 1900. Garden farming has become a prominent industrial feature. The climate enables garden ers to produce for the early Northern market, and cheap transportation is furnished by ocean navigation. The southeastern or Wilmington section has made the greatest progress in this line. Watermelons, cabbages and other vege tables, and strawberries and other small fruits are there grown in abundance. Orchard fruits ' are most common in the western part of the . State. the apple being the principal variety. Peaches are raised, but not in such great quan tities as in other Southern States. Rice is raised along the tide-water rivers, where the construc tion of dikes makes possible a system of flood ing and draining. In Hyde County, however, irrigation is accomplished by pumping. The last census reported 22,279 acres devoted to rice. Peas and sorghum are among the other crops grown.
The following table of acreages explains itself :