This is a study of farm real-estate values and their principal related factors in New England from 1850 to 1930. The Fifteenth Decennial Census, 1930, and earlier censuses comprise the principal sources of the data used in this study. The term "farm real-estate values" is commonly understood to mean the value of all farm land, buildings, and improvements and will be so used here. The chief discussions, however, will center about the average values per acre of farm real estate, thereby eliminating to some extent the effect of increases and decreases in the total amount of farm land.

The principal purposes of this study are:

1. To point out the more significant changes in farm real-estate values in New England from 1850 to 1930, and to compare these changes with the changes in other geographic divisions and the United States, as a whole, over this same period.
2. To point out the more significant changes in farm real-estate values in the several New England States from 1850 to 1930, and to indicate some of the relationships of the more important factors affecting these changes.