The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-06-29
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Onicc, NoS. % and ~ Fourteenth NJ rccI
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The Increase In FARMS III West ylrginI
aud the Country ut 1LnrEe-Tenau
Farming. 3g ,iSafs
We have from the census office al Wasl,
ington bulletin number 2ss, showing IN
number OF farms in the United States II
each decade from 1850 to 1880, inclusive
West Virginia, Of course, only goes back I,
1870, ut whicl, time there were 80, 77S farm
us against Ge,O7l in 1880, which is m in
crease Of IS per cent, In the country n
large the number OF farms In 1880, wa
i'OoS,OoI as against 2,B5O,OS in 1870, ant
2,Oii,O77 in 1850, and l,lI4O,O7s in 1850
showing 81 per cent Of increase from 1871
to 1850. So that West Virginia is 4 pc
cent in excess Of Heterogeneous Of tn
country. The increase among our Obi,
neishbors was 20 per cent and in Pennsyl
vania %.
Apropos 10 this matter Of farms, we mn,
remark that prior to this last census It wal
thcgencrtl belief that In tho United State,
pretty much every farmer owned tho land
he titled: Previous ccnsuses did not 30 into
this question Of the ownership Of farms, 8,
that there are lacking the means Of maxim.
comparisonsand asccrtaining whether there
Is movement toward tenant farming
We must for the present DO content will
the information that large part OF The
farming in this country is done by tenants
This is readily accounted for by the pre-
sence OF the negroes But that explanation
docs not, avail in the great northwestern
states, where the tenant class is not so large
as in the south, but is good deal larger
than people generally imagine.
There isa singular difference in the ratio
oil farms occupied BY tenants to those oc.
cupied by their owners in tho dlIeren,
States. For some reason Illinois leads,
but it is not easy TO suggest my reason
why a larger proportion OF the firms
should be leased in that State than in the
States lying around it. Out Of o55,7ll
farms in Illinois SO,2H are leased, 80 that
very nearly one.third OF all tile farms in
that State are occupied by tenants. Yet
in Michigan only one.tenth OF tho farms
are leased, and in Wisconsin only one.
eleventh. IN West Virginia (as.wc have
heretofore notCd) 5O,G73 OF the farms are
occupied by their OWNERS, I,e92 arc rented
ior money, and 400 farms are cropped on
the shares. In Indiana and Iowa near.
" one fourth, aud in Missouri more than
onc.fourth of all the farms are leased.
In Kansas the leased farms are almost ono
sixth; in Nebraska more than one. sixth: in
Ohio onc-ffth, and Minnesota less than
one-clcvenIh. In the ten States there are
,6S0, 5;sI farms, OF which 347,0Gj. arc one.
liith OF the whole, are occupied by tenants.
These States contain 500 $50 iarnis Of from
twenty to one hundred acres, and OF Ties.
l7l00l are occupied by tenants. Here the
leased farms are nearly 90 per cent OF the
whole. Very nearly onefith of all The
farms in New York and Pennsylvania are
leased, but in New England leased iarms
form 4 tritling portion Of the whole
In the South there Seems to b. rey,l.
lar tenant class. In the nine States
OF Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Florida. South Caro-.
lima, North Carolina, and Virginia, there
are 9l2,ii3 firms, and OF these 363, OIL are
leased. These States contain 81 SOC farms
OF less than ten acres, OF which two-thirds
are leased; S0,l 25 farms Of from ten to
twenty acres, OF which more than three
fourth are leased, and 225 GIG farms OF from
TWEEN! TO fifty acres, OF which hearty three.
fourths are leased. OF these $50 5i7 farms
Of less than fifty acres, 24S, I42 are occupied
by tenants. In the larger farms the pro-
portion cultivated by tenants dininishes
rapidly. e. -,
In regard to the conditions Of payment,
shares OF produce are everywhere more
common than fixed money rentals, but
this is more true in the northwest t!,au
in the South. In Illinois three.iourths OF
the leased farms are on shares; in Indiana
and Iowa more than four.iii,hs are on
shares; in Kansas nearly nil are on
shares; in Michigan two.lhirds, in Alinneso.
Ia seven cishts, in Nebraska four.iiflhs
in Ohio twO.tlirds, in Wisconsin two
thirds and i'll Missouri two.thirtls Of the
leased farms are leased for shares OF the
produce In Il large proportion Of cases
the tenants OF western farms arc young
men who hire until they can save ND
money enough to buy, and the share sys.
tenn is particularly advantageous for them.
In New York siX-sercnlI,s Of the leases are
for q fixed money rental. but in Penn.
sylvania only two.iiiths OF the leases are OF
that character. In Alabama more than
0ne.third Of the leased firms are on n fixed
money rental; i'll Arkansas the proportion
is about the same; i'll Georgia it is less than
one-thirt, and in South Carolnn nearly
rs many farms arc rented for money rs
iur shares Of produce. In Louisiana more
than onc,third, in Mississippi two.iiiths in
North Carolina less than one.sixlI,, and in
Virginia about two.iiiths Of all the leased
farms are leased for fixed sums OF money.
In the ratio Of leased to all farms, South
Carolina takes the lead; u little more than
hall OF NIL the farms in that State are
leased, and in Mississippi nearly one.half
arc, leased. In Georgia and Alabama the
farms occupied ny their owners 10 not
greatly exceed in number those that are
leased.
In view Of the fact that there is no nav.
ment that men make with more reluc.
lance than rent, and that only few weeks
ago Mr.. Gladstone ominously quoted, in q
public speech, the Statement OF the duke
Of Wellington that il there should ever be
| IL determined rrsistnnroF To thn nnv,,,oni
oil rents or tithes he did not know what
the government could dot would have
nomeans OF putting downsuch resistance
1.-The growth Of tenant faimiug in this
country will be watched with n good dea
OF Interest Since 1870 there has beer
considerable increase in the size OF firms
Michigan il now about the only state il
which the largest class Of farms Is not tho
one containing from one 10 five hundred
acres: ten years ago farms OF fifty to ont
hundred acres coniposed the largest class
in several States. We may find large cs
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