Eastern North Carolina Encyclopedia
smaller than in any county in the combination cotton and tobacco belt. Eighty-one per cent of the farms of Johnston are cultivated by white farmers. This is the highest rate to be found in the eastern half of North Carolina except Dare and Carteret down on the coast. The small increase in negro population can be attributed to the low negro population ratio of the county, and to a comparatively low migration of negroes into Johnston from other counties during the period.
A FARMING PEOPLE
While over half the counties of the State have more people living on farms than we have, over four-fifths of our people live in the rural districts. In this respect we are above the State average by more than ten per cent. In Johnston nearly five out of every six people live in the open country. In North Carolina seven out of every ten are country dwellers. Three counties have no incorporated towns. We are almost wholly an agricultural people, digging our living out of the soil, contributing enormous totals of agricultural wealth yearly, and building up a sturdy race amongst wholesome surroundings. The county is, as a result, densely populated, an average of more than fifty country people living on every square mile of our territory, or one person on every 13 acres for the entire county. We have no large towns and the population is well scattered over the county.
WEALTH
Farm property in Johnston in 1920 had a census value of $40,740,814, which includes farm buildings, implements, machinery and live stock. Not all this property was on the tax books, but the great bulk of our taxable wealth consists of farm properties.
In 1921 our wealth on the tax books amounted to $862 per capita while the per capita wealth of the State was $1,007. Johnston ranks below the State average because she is almost entirely agricultural, with few big manufacturing plants to swell the tax list. Farm property is seldom listed at what it will actually bring on the market. Our real wealth per person is somewhat above $862.
FARM WEALTH
We had a great increase in farm wealth from 1910 to 1920, the total increase amounting to 197.5 per cent. The soils of the county are being so treated as to gain in richness, and as a result land values are increasing yearly. Our rapidly growing population means rapidly increasing land values. Population growth is the greatest factor in land value increase. Another primary factor is the ability of the soil to produce wealth. We ranked third in this State in the production of agricultural wealth, which includes crops and live stock, with $20,647,000. Of the 3,000 counties in the United States, Johnston ranks among the 50 highest in the production of crop values. The production of agricultural wealth per farm in the county was nearly three thousand dollars, which is exceedingly high, and very gratifying. It was nearly a thousand dollars higher than the State average. We need more good farmers and more industries. For further information
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REGISTER OF DEEDS
SMITHFIELD, N. C.
Twenty-two
