The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 378
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
price supports and acreage restrictions imposed by various federal
farm programs were intended to aid the farmer, but in the final
analysis they actually contributed to the misfortunes of the small-
unit producers. The urban movement, inflationary trends, and
acreage curtailment forced many heartland farmers into non-farm
occupations. The remaining rural farm inhabitants of the prov-
ince sought survival by increasing their acreage, planning greater
crop diversification, depending more heavily upon livestock pro-
duction, and seeking supplementary incomes from additional
employment or business enterprise. The small-farm economy
which had characterized the heartland for so many decades began
to be replaced by a new farm-and-ranch oriented economy. This
change in the basic economy produced certain alterations in the
folkways of the inhabitants, but only a few social readjustments
were necessary in a population so uniquely homogeneous in com-
position. In spite of differences in soil fertility, rainfall, accessi-
bility, and natural resources, predominant forces of cultural adhe-
sion and social balance remained operative binding provincial
inhabitants to a social structure possessed with a reasonable degree
of uniformity.
The number of heartland farms has been decreasing for sev-
eral decades. The number of farms in Comanche County, as
calculated with the old definition of "farm,"2 decreased by 1,265
farms between 1940 and 1959 (Table 1). Montague, Wise, Erath,
and Brown counties also suffered noteworthy decreases during
the same period. Stephens County witnessed the smallest de-
crease in number of farms, but even this county had 295 fewer
farms in 1959 than in 194o. The decades since World War I have
seen the abandonment of many heartland farms, but the decrease
in number of farms does not necessarily indicate wholesale deser-
2For the 1959 Census of Agriculture, the definition of "farm" was based on a
combination of "acres in the place" and the estimated value of agricultural prod-
ucts sold. Places of less than ten acres in 1959 were counted as farms if the esti-
mated sales of agricultural products for the year amounted to at least $250o. Places
of ten or more acres in 1959 were counted as farms if the estimated sales of agri-
cultural products for the year amounted to at least $50. For the 1954 Census of
Agriculture, places of three or more acres were counted as farms if the annual
value of agricultural products, whether for local consumption or for sale, amounted
to $150 or more. Therefore, there was a decrease in farms because of the change
in farm definition between 1954 and 1959. The amount of decrease in the number
of heartland farms because of the change in definition is shown by county in Table
1 following. See U. S. Census of Agriculture, x959, Texas, I, Pt. 37, pp. xiv-xv.378
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/440/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.