TABLE 10.-GREENHOUSE ESTABLISHMENTS CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO VALUE OF PRODUCTS, BY DIVISIONS AND STATES: 1919. CHAPTER XIV.-FARM POPULATION. Introduction. In the reports of the Tenth Census (1880) a table was published showing what part of the population of the United States was living in cities of 8,000 inhabitants and over on the date of each census, from 1790, when the proportion in the city group was only 3.3 per cent, to 1880, when this proportion had risen to 22.7 per cent. This classification represents the first attempt to make a general distinction, in the population statistics of the United States, between city dwellers and country dwellers. The table just mentioned is reprinted, with figures for the later censuses, in the reports of the 1920 census. The proportion The proportion living in cities of 8,000 inhabitants and over had increased to 43.8 per cent in 1920. In the reports of the Thirteenth Census (1910) a new classification of the population on the basis of the size of the place of residence was introduced. The two groups or classes distinguished were designated, respectively, "urban," and "rural." Urban population was defined as that residing in cities and other incorporated places having 2,500 inhabitants and over, while the remainder of the population made up the rural group. This classification was made, not only for the current data, but also for the population reported at earlier censuses, as far back as 1880, and the figures were presented, by states, for the four censuses (1880 to 1910, inclusive). Similar figures for 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1920 are given in the reports of the 1920 census.2 The percentage urban for the United States in 1880 was 28.6; in 1890, 35.4; in 1900, 40; in 1910, 45.8; and in 1920, 51.4. Both of these classifications were made, however, primarily to throw light upon the number and status of city dwellers, while the rural population, or noncity dwellers, appeared as a sort of by-product-a group composed partly of farmers and their families; partly of the populations of mill villages, engaged almost exclusively in manufacturing; partly of the inhabitants of mining settlements; and partly of the incidental population found, even in a farming section, living in the open country but not engaged in any agricultural pursuit nor in any way directly connected with agriculture. To meet the need for a classification which should represent more definitely that part of the population directly dependent on agriculture, or connected with it, provision was made in 1920 for a separate tabulation of the farm population. 1 Reports of the Fourteenth Census, Vol. I, p. 43. Farm population-definition. The farm population, as the term is here used, includes all persons actually living on farms, without regard to occupation, and also those farm laborers (and their families) who, while not living on a farm, nevertheless live in strictly rural territory, outside the limits of any village or other incorporated place. The instructions given to the enumerators with regard to placing the designation for farm population on the population schedule were as follows: Write "Fm" opposite the name of the first person enumerated in the house, if the family is living on a farm (as defined in the agricultural instructions), including the families of both farm operators and farm laborers. 'Fm" is also to be entered for the house of a farm laborer and his family living on a small parcel of land not within the limits of an incorporated place. All persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, together with their families, are therefore included in the farm population, except those farm operators who do not live on the farm, and those farm laborers who live in a city or village, away from the farm where they work. The numbers of these two classes are too small to be of any great significance, and further, they represent mainly persons who are living under urban (or village) conditions, rather than in a farm environment. The farm population also includes, by virtue of their residence on a farm, a considerable number of persons engaged in occupations not agricultural and not directly connected with agriculture. A large part of this group is made up of the grown sons and daughters of the farmers, still living at home, and of other relatives living with the farm family. The line of demarkation between the farm population and the urban population is not absolute, because a few farms are located within the limits. of cities and other incorporated places having 2,500 inhabitants or over, and the families residing on them are therefore included in the urban population, as well as in the farm population. Most of these farms are situated in the edge of the incorporated area, however, where living conditions are more like those in the open country than they are like those in the main part of the city or village. For comparison, therefore, the farm population may be contrasted in most cases with the urban population of the same area, since these two groups will show the widest difference in the conditions under which they live. Between the farm population and the rural population, in which the farm population is practically all included, there is naturally a general similarity. | population living in unincorporated territory-that This similarity is greater where the nonfarm part of is, outside the small incorporated places (under 2,500 the rural population is engaged principally in the inhabitants). trades (carpentering, blacksmithing, etc.) and in those professional and commercial activities required to supply the needs of the farmers and their families, and less where the nonfarm part of the rural population is engaged in factory work or in lumbering or mining. The farm population data are correlated, in the accompanying tables, with similar data for the total population and for the urban and rural population, in order to afford a convenient basis for comparisons. The urban population, as already stated, comprises that residing in cities and other incorporated places having 2,500 inhabitants or more--including towns of that size in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The rural population is that residing in smaller incorporated places and in unincorporated territory. Total farm population.-The farm population of the United States in 1920 was 31,614,269, representing 29.9 per cent of the total population. The total population, amounting to 105,710,620, comprised an urban population of 54,304,603 and a rural population of 51,406,017-51.4 per cent being urban and 48.6 per cent rural. There were four states (see Table 5) in which the farm population living in rural territory formed more than three-fourths of the rural population, namely, Mississippi, 81.8 per cent; Arkansas, 78.3 per cent; Georgia, 77.5 per cent; and South Carolina, 77.2 per cent. In a number of states, also, the farm population was nearly equal to the population living outside incorporated places of any kind. Farm population, by sex.-The total farm population of the United States in 1920 (31,614,269) comprised 16,496,338 males and 15,117,931 females, or 109.1 males per 100 females. In the urban population the ratio of males to females was much lower-100.4 to 100. The larger number of males in the farm population, in proportion to the number of females, results in part from the fact that most of the farm work is done by men-in particular, that most persons coming to the farm to secure work are men. For while the census reports on occupations show considerable numbers of women employed as farm laborers, most of these are members of the farmer's immediate family. Many of the urban occupations, on the other hand, are followed chiefly or largely by women. For some reason, at any rate, the opportunities for employment in the city seem to appeal more strongly to women than to men. Hence the farmer's daughter is more likely to leave the farm and go to the city than is the farmer's son, who may find profitable employment on another farm when his services are no longer needed at home. TABLE 2.-Farm Population of the United States, and TOTAL NUMBER. Male. 31,358, 640 61.0 CLASS OF POPULATION. Males per 100 54,304, 603 Total. Female. females. 51,406, 017 8,969, 241 42,436, 776 51.4 In three New England states (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island) towns having 2,500 inhabitants or over were included with incorporated places and classified as urban. More than 99 per cent of the farm population were residing in rural territory (outside of incorporated places having 2,500 inhabitants or over), the number reported as living on farms inside the limits of cities. and other incorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants and over being only 255,629, or 0.8 per cent of the whole number. The farm population living in rural territory formed 61 per cent of the whole rural population, as above defined, and was equal to 73.9 per cent of the rural Urban population... Farm population, by race, nativity, and parentage.Of the total farm population in 1920, 66.6 per cent were native whites of native parentage, 12.1 per cent were native whites of foreign or mixed parentage, 4.7 per cent were foreign-born whites, and 16.8 per cent were colored. The urban population on the same date was 45.2 per cent native white of native parentage, 28.9 per cent native white of foreign or mixed parentage, 19.1 per cent foreign-born white, and 6.8 per cent colored. |