1900 | 313,902 | 251,874 | 62,028 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 4.8
1890 | 294,896 | 235,703 | 59,193 | [*]1.3 | 1.4 | [*]11.
1880 | 298,869 | 232,391 | 66,478 | 8.2 | 15.1 | [*]10.7
1870 | 276,291 | 201,888 | 74,403 | [*]6.7 | [*]8.3 | [*] 1.9
1860 | 296,142 | 220,266 | 75,876 | .5 | 5.7 | [*] 1.2
1850 | 294,675 | 208,454 | 86,221 | - | - | -
-------+---------+-----------+-------------+---------+----------+------------

[* - Decrease.]

The most striking fact to be noted concerning the reported farm areas
is the comparatively great decrease in the decade 1860 to 1870. This
was, of course, one of the disastrous effects of the Civil War, from
which the South, in general, after more than forty-five years, has not
yet fully recovered, as is shown by the fact that in some of the South
Atlantic states the reported acreage of farm land in 1900 was less
than it was in 1860.

A continuous increase is shown in the area of improved farm land
except in the decade 1860-1870. The decrease in the amount under
cultivation, reported in the census of 1870, was due to conditions
growing out of the change in the system of labor which prevented a
complete rehabilitation of agricultural industry.

Only three other of the 100 Virginia counties reported larger improved
areas in 1900, viz: Fauquier, 291,734 acres; Pittsylvania, 280,456 and
Augusta, 276,459.

TABLE II.--_Number of Farms by Decades: Summary, 1850 to
1900._