The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
the university of north CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
JULY 13, 1921
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for its University Ex
tension Division.
VOL. VII, NO. 34
Editorial Board i E. 0. Biauson, S. H. Hobbs, Jr., h. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Bullitt, H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffice at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912,
INCREASES AND DECREASES
Elsewhere in this issue of the News
Letter will be found a table ranking the'
counties of North Carolina from high
to low according to percents of increase
in farms during the last census period.
Edgecdmbe made the best showing,
with a gain of 31.1 percent, while Dare,
a Tidewater county where there is little
farming, foots the list with a loss of
43.4 percent of the farms she had in
1910. During this ten-year period fifty-
nine counties increased in farms, all
the way from Edgecombe with 31.1
percent to Stokes with only four-tenths
of one percent. In addition, the area
formerly occupied by Cumberland, and
Robeson counties, but now comprising
Cumberland, Robeson, and Hoke, in
creased its farms 12.6 percent. So ac
tually 62 counties gained in the number
of farms.
Thirty-Eight Lose
During the same period thirty-four
counties and the area formerly occupied
by Watauga, Caldwell, and Mitchell,
but now comprising Watauga, Caldwell,
Mitchell, and the new county of Avery,
or a total of 38 counties, lost farms.
In the area occupied by these 38 coun
ties farming is losing out or making little
headway. Many of these same counties
actually lost population during the last
decade. These counties, for the most
part, lie in areas of social and economic
stagnation. They are counties of sparse
and increasingly sparse populations,
sixteen of them actually losing popula
tion during the last decade.
Where They Are
During the last ten years 29 counties
increased their farms more than ten
percent. With just four exceptions
these counties are situated in the east
ern or coastal plains section of North
Carolina, The four, exceptions are
Rockingham, Caswell, Person, and
Orange, located in the north central
part of the state where the cultivation
of tobacco has recently been revived.
Only one county in all the Coastal Plains
section, Bladen, a lower Cape Fear
county, failed to increase the number
of her farms. Bladen suffered a decrease
of 1.7 percent. Without exception every
county making a conspicuous gain in
the number of farms is located in the
Coastal Plains region. A few of those
making the largest gains are, Pitt, with
1,241 more farms, Sampson 1,200, Wil
son 1,’033, Johnston 1,004, Wayne 995,
Edgecombe 911, Duplin 839, Lenoir 739,
and the small county of Scotland 341
more. These are some of the counties
which during the war period plunged
deeply into cotton and tobacco farming,
which was very profitable for a few
years. This area for a brief period
prospered as it had never prospered be
fore, and within three or four years
land values rose two, three, and four
hundred percent because tobacco and
cotton land was in such great demand.
Possibly no equal area in the entire
South produced and handled as much
farm wealth as the combination tobacco
and cotton counties of the Coastal Plains
of this state.
The counties making gains in the
number of farms but gains of less than
ten percent, are found scattered all
over the state. In the main they are
to be found in the Hill counties where
farming continued to be prosperous but
where manufacturing has had a marked
development. Here the white tenants
have moved off the farms in large num
bers and have become mill operatives
in our great textile centers. The farms
in this area are more largely cultivated
by farm owners than ten years ago and
both the tenants who moved to textile
centers and the farmers who remained
on the farm have been benefited. Out
side of the Hill country, six counties in
the Tidewater area, three in the Coast
al Plains and three in the Mountains
gained less than 10 percent in the num
ber of farms.
Thirty-eight counties in North Caro
lina lost farms during the ten-year pe
riod. Eight of them are located in the
Tidewater area and all the rest in the
Mountains and Hill country. And the
reasons for the losses in these three
counties; for five of them lost popula
tion during the last census period. In
some of these counties, especially Dare,
Tyrrell, Carteret, and New Hanover,
farming has never been a very import
ant activity, and the total number of
farms lost is not so large. Except for
a few small areas the whole Tidewater
section has made little progress, so far
as farming is concerned, during the last
ten years. The truck farmers of the
northeastern area have been moving a-
head at a good pace.
Why They Lost
The loss of farms in the Hill counties
is due very largely to the rapid growth
of this area as the textile center of the
South. The white farm tenants by the
thousands have been swarming out'of
the country regions and into the textile
towns and cities. These urban places
have been growing at a rapid pace. For
instance, Winston-Salem more than
doubled her population during the last
decade, while Gastonia, Charlotte,
Greensboro, High Roint, Durham, and
the smaller towns grew at a pace never
before witnessed—at the expense, of
the country regions, for twelve Hill
counties lost farms during this period.
Every county in this area and in the
mountains decreased its farm tenant
population and today wefindafar larger
number of farm owners in the western
half of our state than we have seen be
fore in our lifetime. But also the en
tire eastern half of North Carolina
with a bare half-dozen exceptions in
creased its farm tenant population all
the way from one percent in Nash to :
94 percent in Pamlico. The western;
counties, though losing farms in many *
counties, are headed into farm owner
ship and live-at-home farming, while [
the entire eastern half of North Caro-1
lina is headed into more and smaller j
farms, farm tenantry, and cotton and |
tobacco farming with all the attendant
evils. The western half is headed in j
the right direction. The eastern half j
can never be a safe and prosperous farm I
area as long as it is based on tenantry i
and its necessary attendant, the cash
crop system.
More Farms, Fewer Acres
Today we have 16,038 more farms in
North Carolina than in 1910, but 614,647
fewer acres under cultivation. That is
almost a contradiction unless one knows
our type of farming and the way we'
are headed, especially in' the cotton and
tobacco counties, where farms increased
most in number and decreased most in
size. Every decade since the Civil War
finds us cultivating more but smaller
farms. Each decade finds us more in
tensive farmers. The average culti
vated acres per farm sixty years ago
were 125. Today the cultivated acres
per farm are 30.4, having decreased
four acres per farm in ten years. The
average cultivated acres per farm work
er are 13, while ten years ago they
were 15. We are hand farmers today
as never before, while more than 70
percent of our land lies idle, or practi
cally so. The farms in Johnston, for
instance, increased nearly 17 percent,
but the land under cultivation remained
almost the same during the last ten
years. Edgecombe increased her farms
31.1 percent, but the land under culti
vation decreased nearly 8 percent. Cas
well increased her farms 27.8 percent,
but decreased her cultivated acres 7
percent. Duplin increased her farms
21.8 percent, but decreased her culti
vated acres 17 percent, and this with
less than one-fifth of her land under cul
tivation. Lenoir county made a gain of
30.5 percent in number of farms-, but
the average cultivated acres per farm
decreased from 37 to 28 in ten years.
What will be the size of farms in the
eastern half of our state 20 years hence?
If the practice of 60 years is an indica
tion, we will be pocket-handkerchief
farmers just as they are in Northwest
ern Europe today. We are almost that
now, and in an area of sparse rural jiop-
ulation^. During the year 1919, our
most prosperous year, seventy-eight, or
nearly four-fifths, of the counties of this
state had fewer acres under cultivation
than ten years previously.
It is our opinion that we are headed
We ajfe drifting into
EDUCATION PAYS
Senator Benjamin H. Hill
Education is the one thing for
which no people ever yet' paid too
much. The more they pay the rich
er they become. Nothing is so cost
ly as ignorance and nothing so cheap
as knowledge.
far greater importance is the lastin
effect upon the county and the strong
hold that the bank is building for itself
in the hearts, minds, and interests of
the dwellers in the county of Edge
combe.—Catherine Batts.
stock farming and agricultural indus
tries sensibly tied in with our splendid
cash crops.
Early issues of the News Letter will
carry studies dealing with increases and
decreases in farm owners, tenants, and
negro farmers. —S. H. H., Jr.
areas are not so complex. In the Tide-1 the wrong p.Iiture tenantry
water ai-eas, the already sparse country j smaller farms,
population, lack of trade centers, poor
transportation facilities, and lack of
a good money crop and marketing fa
cilities, in part explain why farmers
moved off the farms and out of the
and cash crops, especially in the eastern
half of the state. We should be headed
into larger-sized farms, cultivated with
labor-saving, profit-producing machin
ery, and into food and feed crops, live-
WIDE-AWAKE BANKS
In this time when agencies for im
proving farm life are being discussed it
will be in order to mention the splendid
work the Tarboro banks are doing for'
the people of Edgecombe county. Chief
among these is the First National Bank,
although the Farmers’ Banking and
Trust Company is not far behind.
In 1917 Mr. M. G. Mann came to Tar
boro as Vice-President and Cashier of
the First National Bank. He soon real
ized the work that could be done among
the farmers—to improve conditions in
the county and incidentally gain inter
est in and patronage for the bank. He
therefore soon let it be known in an un
obtrusive way that he would be backing
all progressive measures. He has of
fered many prizes for farm life papers,
fair exhibits, etc., but his policy through
the bank has been more daring—bigger
than that..
He has gone on the outside and pur
chased and brought to Edgecombe more
than ninety pure-bred Jerseys. Most
of these cows were put with the boys to
encourage them to stay on the farm.
Their notes were accepted for one year,
teaching them the value of credit and
the method of obtaining money from
the banks in a way which will prove
most helpful to them when they have
the responsibility of running a farm.
Moreover, about a year ago twenty
pure-tired Hampshire pigs which cost
about $2,500 were delivered to the coun
ty boys, their notes being accepted.
These pigs are doing well and should be
the means of raising the standard of
swine in the county.
The Bank has also endeavored to raise
the quality of sheep in the county by
purchasing from New Mexico one hun
dred twenty-five high-grade sheep and
several high-grade rams. The wool has
made beautiful blankets, many of which
have been sold in the county.
The most profitable thing that has
yet been undertaken is in encouraging
the farmers to use better seed, and
during the • spring and fall the Bank
was kept busy getting seed of various
kinds and quantities for the farmer.
During the past fall more than 10,000
pounds of crimson clover were ordered.
All during the summer and fall the win
dows of the bank are filled with the
most beautiful farm plants and fruits—
the biggest watermelons, the most pro
lific cotton, little* growing clover plants,
seed and vegetables.
The Bank also publishes a little month
ly pamphlet. Successful Banking and
Farming News. This deals with county
problems and items of interest. It con
tains stories of thrift, and contrasts the
near-sighted “what was good enough
for my father is good enough for me”
farmer with , the progressive farmer
who buys pure-bred stock and high-
grade seed and couples up with the
bank. Health matters are taken up;
suggestions to the farmer and farm-
wife are given; and the people of the
county are encouraged to contribute to
this publication. It is a hard matter
to get the farmer to read this magazine;
however some improvement is being
made along this line.
The Bank has recently adopted the
policy of starting each child of the
county along life’s road with a bank ac
count. They therefore have asked all
Vital Statistics Registrars to send to
them the name and all necessary infor
mation of each child born. The child
is provided with a tiny bank book,
showing a deposit of $1.00. The parents
are ,of course encouraged to enlarge
this.
While the resources of the First Na
tional Bank have grown considerably
during the last few years, it would be
unfair to draw comparisons just at this
I time of financial depression. A great
' deal'of the growth has come from the
' efforts along agricultural lines, but of
SCHOOL BONDS
In a recent issue of the News Letter
we carried a study showing the per cap
ita bond issue for schools of the various
towns, cities, and some districts since
January 1, 1921. This study did not
pretend to take intO' account bonds is
sued before that date nor bond issues
that will be voted on in the near future
except a few cases of which we had
knowledge. It was merely a presenta
tion on a per capita basis of town and
city school bond issues during the last
six months. The total was so large
that we were impressed with the im
portance education must have in the
minds of North Carolinians. Otherwise
these 87 towns would not have voted
ten million dollars for school buildings
in our present period of financial de
pression.
Several people have replied that we
did their counties a grave injustice
either because they had already taken
care of their school needs, or are get
ting ready to do so. We are very sorry
that our good intentions were miscon
strued and we are presenting some of
the facts relative to what these dissent
ing towns and counties have done and
are preparing to do.
Gastonia
Gastonia wants the state to know
that she is no laggard area and we are
glad to give her justice.. The $50,000
issue already voted on was for a’mill
village school. Gastonia has provided
good schools in the past and on July 18,
she will decide a $500,000 school bond
issue and at the same .time vote on an
issue of $800,000 for good roads. That
is going strong, and we are glad to know
she has big things in mind and congrat
ulate her most heartily.
Durham
Superintendent Pusey of the Durham
schools writes that one more commu
nity, Durham, should be listed. She
has embanked upon a school building
program that calls for approximately
$1,250,000—$650,000 of which is now a-
vailable. Contracts now being let, to
gether with those now being carried
out, will total about $700,000.
Mr. W. B. Cooper writes that New
Hanover is completing one of the finest
high school buildings in the state. The
bond issue for this building was voted a
year or so ago and our study was for
the last'six months.
MecKIenburg
Mr. W. E. Price of Mecklenburg
wishes us to know that his county is no
laggard. He writes:
“We are advertising two bond issues
right now for two consolidated school
districts. We already have six large
consolidated schools. These buildings
are erected of brick and are modern in
every way, some of them costing as
much as $30,000 each. Of course, I
speak of the districts outside of the city
of Charlotte and what are commonly
known as rural districts. We are plan
ning a large new building at Newells,
a consolidation of several districts, and'
will be ready as soon as the bonds are
sold to start the building. The same
is true of the consolidation of the dis
tricts in Long Creek Township with a
new modern school building to accomo
date the same as soon as the bonds are
sold. We are also planning and are
about ready to erect a new brick ve
neer six-room school building for the
accomodation of three consolidated dis
tricts in the eastern part of the county;
all of which I hope will prove to you
conclusively that Mecklenburg is not a
laggard county by any means in the
matter of school facilities and school
buildings.”
We are glad to give the facts and to ad
vertise counties like Chowan which have
already constructed adequate buildings.
Also we feel sure that Mr. Price and
others can appreciate our inability to
know what all districts are contemplat
ing. Our six-months total was large
enough to pass along to the public.
FARMS IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 1920
Percents Increase or Decrease, 1910-20
Counties ranked from high to low. Based on the Press Summaries of the
1920 Census.
State rate of increase 6.3 percent. Total increase in farms 16,038. Total
number of farms in 1920 was 269,763.
Rural Social Science Department, University of North Carolina.
INCREASES
Rank Counties Perct. Increase
in number
1 Edgecombe 31.1
2 Lenoir 30-5
3 Wilson ■ • 30-3
4 Caswell 27.8
5 Pitt 26.4
6 Sampson 26.1
7 Greene 24.9
8 Wayne....' 24.7
9 Harnett 24.6
10 Craven 23.8
11 Scotland 22.9
Duplin 21.8
Pamlico 21.6
Moore.... 19'2
Franklin 13-5
Martin
Person
Johnston 16.6
Warren 16'5
Lee 16*2
Rockingham 11-9
Washington 13.8
Jones 12-7
Anson ' 11-2
Orange H-®
Richmond 16-9
Wake 10-9
Perquimans 16-8
Gates 19.0
Durham 9.5
Beaufort 9.4
Halifax 8.8
Alamance 7.9
Davidson 7.6
Pasquotank 7.6
Forsyth 7.6
Granville 1.5
Rowan 7.2
Y adkin 6.9
Camden 6.6
Guilford 6.5
Nash 6.1
Ashe ; 6.0
Clay 6.0
Onslow 6.7
Currituck 5.6
' Columbus 6.6
INCREASES
Rank Counties Perct. Increase
in number
48 Rutherford ' 5.2
49 Bertie 4.9
50 Chowan 4.6
51 Iredell 3.7
52 Stanly 3.0
53 Polk 2.9
54 Yancey 2.7
55 Chatham 2.6
56 Cabarrus, 2.2
67 Northampton 1.7
68 Vance '. 0.7
59 Stokes 0.4
DECREASES Perct. Decrease
60 Alexander 0.2
61 Cleveland 0.4
62 Cherokee 0.5
63 Union 0.7
64 Montgomery 0.8
65 Macon 1.0
66 Davie 1.4
67 Bladen 1.7
68 Mecklenburg 2.1
69 Haywood 2.4
69 J ackson 2.4
71 Surry 2.9
72 Randolph 3.6
73 Alleghany 3.9
74 Graham 4.1
76 Pender 4.9
76 Wilkes. > 5.0
77 Hertford 7.7
78 Tyrrell 7.9
79 Lincoln 8.1
80 Swain 8.6
81 Catawba. 8.8
82 Henderson 9.0
83 Madison 10.3
84 Transylvania 10.4
85 Buncombe 10.7
86 McDowell 11.6
87 Carteret 12.6
88 Hyde 14.4
89 Burke...... 14.6
90 Brunswick 14.9
91 Gaston 18.2
92 New Hanover 23.1
93 Dare 43.4
Note: (1) Avery was formed in 1911 out of Watauga, Caldwell, and Mitch
ell, and does not appear in the 1910 census. In the area occupied by these four
counties the number of farms decreased 7 percent between 1910 and 1920.
(2) Hoke was formed in 1911 out of Cumberland and Robeson. In the area
covered by these three counties the number of farms increased 12.6 percent dur
ing the same period.
(3) - Cleveland, Currituck, Dare, Durham, Gaston, Harnett, and Wake had
their boundaries slightly changed during the last census period, but the territory
gained or lost was so small in each instance that the figures for them in the
above table are approximately correct.
11
M'