Talk:Acre

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ACRE

what is width of an acre in feet ?

1 yard = 3 feet, so, 220 yd by 22 yd = 660 by 66 feet. Thus, 66 feet wide. Nik42 08:04, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

If your "acre" is a rectangle, then its width is 43,560 ft² divided by the length in feet. If that rectangle is a square, then each side is √(43,560 ft²), or about 208 ft 8½ in, the maximum width of a rectangular one-acre tract. Gene Nygaard 16:15, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

• The acre is an area measure related to stadia, perche and miles. There are 640 acres in a modern square mile. The sides are generally taken to have been made one perche by one fulong in 1593. There would be 10 such acres in a square furlong and 8 furlong in a mile.

• In 1500 Arnolds Customs of London gives the length of the furlong as 625 fote and the Myle as 5000 fote which would make it the same as the Roman Milliare. There are still 8 furlongs in a Myle Rktect 14:18, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

One perch by one furlong is a quarter of an acre. Four perches by one furlong is one acre. The pre-1593 mile was 5000 English feet, not Roman feet, so it was not the same as a Roman mile. Indefatigable 17:50, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

• First thanks for the correction.

• As to your second point,I agree that what we are talking here would be 66 fote rather than 66 pes or 60 pous although rods, poles and perch vary from about 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet to 22 feet and I was wondering if we could agree as to why. Rktect 02:48, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Acre in Rods and Chains 2 Acre - Make it simple 3 Acre's breadth 4 non english acres 5 U.S. Definition of acre when listed for purchase 6 Duplication

[edit] Acre in Rods and Chains

One Acre is equal to 1 chain by 1 furlong. Noting that 4 rods is a chain, and 10 chain is a furlong, then one acre is also equal to 4 rods by 40 rods (160 squar rods).

After 1581 an acre is considered to be measured as 1 chain by 1 furlong. Before Gunters chain replaces whatever unit or units were there before, four perch range from 66 feet to 88 feet, afterwards his chain is what makes it 66 feet everywhere.

Most people think the perche comes to England from France, possibly at a time when it was still considered to be Normandy or Gaul. In Gaul we seem to have the pied de roi and a set of units derived from the Roman pes but east of the Rhine there was the Greek agros or amma influencing the forebearers of the Anglo Saxon units. 10 orquia = 1 amma = 1/10 stadion, stadium, furlong.

The Gauls are using Roman units and the Germanics are using a Greek unit equal to 4 perche known as the agros or amma. Agros being the Greek root of agriculture it makes sense that the agros is the unit used to lay out fields in its sphere of influence. Since the Greek foot or pous has a short median and long form and the Roman measures also have a couple of different forms that may explain why the perch varies so much throughout Europe. Rktect 02:48, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

As one chain is 22 yards, so one acre is also equal to 22 yards by 220 yards (4,840 square yards). You see, these all make sense !!! (Comments added by Dr. Eric Wu 20/03/2005)

[edit] Acre - Make it simple

Think of one acre being slightly larger than 60m by 60m.

[edit] Acre's breadth

I have no quarrel with the fact that the acre was sometimes defined as a chain by a furlong, or the equivalent in perches or yards or whatever. Nor with the fact that the terminology "acre's breadth" and "acre's length" were sometimes used in connection with defining an acre.

What I object to is presenting "acre's breadth" and "acre's length" as if they are used as units of measure. That certainly isn't true today, and I doubt that it ever was true. Nobody ever gives a measurement as "three acre's breadths" or "seven acre's lengths".

BTW, the acre's breadth I learned before I even started school is the rod. In an area where homesteads were normally 160 acres, often in a square, the half-mile length of the fields in these tracts for a width of one rod is an acre. Gene Nygaard 11:13, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

"Acre's breadth" and "acre's lengths", as I stated, are obsolete terms, but formerly used. They were used as lineal measurements and date to the 13th Century. The Oxford English Dictionary contains quotes with these usages. Rt66lt 01:47, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

Are any of the usage examples used with anything other than "one" or "an"? In any case, this should be under the "History" section, not "Related measurements". Gene Nygaard 02:53, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Where is the "history" section? Would it be possible to include the earlier versions of the acre in the same way we include the earlier versions of the mile and the foot? The romans (actus, actus guadratus, jugerum, heridia, centuria) have a number of standard multiples and divisions of the which make it into medieval usage (yerde, hide, virgate, carrucate)as do the rest of Europes nations (French arpent, German Daisework) and for that matter the Greeks, (argos, aroura, square plethron), Egyptians,(3kr, ht, 3ht, mht3, khet, sqaure st3t, itrw) and Mesopotamians, (iku) all use the same doubling system apparently based on the different stadia and chains. Rktect 20:46, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

The first usage of "chain" (as an official unit of length) dates to 1624 according to the OED. Chains were used to measure acres, however they were not standardized as a length until that date by someone named "Gunter" (no first name given).Rt66lt 02:28, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

See Edmund Gunter and Gunter's measurement. Gene Nygaard 02:53, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

The earliest argos or chain I have come across is attributed to Pythagorus at Miletus but even earlier than that we have the knotted cords used to measure land.

"In the Hellenistic era different methods were used to measure distances described for example by Heron of Alexandria. Lengths were measured by: Schoinion, a cord of some standard length, Schoinourgos, the land surveyor. Heron of Alexandria knew that for example the length of the schoinion could change by humidity and he gave some recipes how to keep the distance as constant as possible, by hanging weights or smearing the schoinion with wax. The schoinion was 100 cubits divided in 8 hammata (knots) halysis (metallic chain). This did not have the problems of the cord but it was probably expensive and too heavy to be used often as the schoinion.

kalamos measuring rod from reed or wood. For area measurements the aroura was used which is one schoinion square."

[schoinion (100 royal cubits)]Rktect 20:46, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] non english acres

It's interesting how the English and other Europeans seem to think they invented all measures from scratch but at the same time allow that by some coincidence the people who invented surveying were apparently able to lay out the metes and bounds of plots of land in essentially the same units several millenia earlier. How did the Greeks lay out their fields? Federal Street 16:14, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] U.S. Definition of acre when listed for purchase

When buying land listed for purchase in the U.S, what is the definition of an acre?

For instance, if I search on realtor.com, and it says that a plot of land is 10.21 Acres, can I convert this to square meters?

I suspect the legal definition would be U.S. survey acre in a case like this, but I cannot say for sure. The difference between the two is only 1650 cm², which nobody would quibble over or take to court. Anyway listing something as 10.21 acres usually implies (10.21 ± 0.005) acres. By both definitions, this converts to (41,318 ± 20) m². Indefatigable 15:35, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Generally speaking Realtors use 43,560 sq. ft. (4,046.856 square meters) to represent an acre.

Yes but the question is are those feet international feet (exactly 0.3048 m) or U.S. survey feet (exactly ¹²⁰⁰⁄₃₉₃₇ m)? Indefatigable 21:01, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

When in doubt, take your ox and see how long it takes you to plow the lot. Do the math and use it as a bargaining chip with your realtor.  ;-) Kbh3rd^talk 21:07, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Duplication

The line

One acre equals ten square chains: ten acres equals one square furlong: an acre is a chain by a furlong: chain: 22 yards, furlong: 220 yards.

appeared in two paragraphs. I removed it from the first, thinking it more relevant in its place in the second.--King Hildebrand 17:11, 2 August 2006 (UTC)