The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-12-28
Menace to Tenant Farmer

region Three times they were
squeezed to the point Of worthlessness
and were abandoned. After years OF
fallowness, during which they revert
ed to the wilderness, they slowly were
restored by nature to a state of fer.
tility, when they again were cleared
and placed in cultivation.
Moving day" in the city is May 1st.
Moving day in the country is March
1st. On the latter day the tenant farm.
err of the year takes possession OF the
farm he is to Skin" for the season.
He previously has agreed to pay the
landlord, not cash, but portion OF the
crop. If he assumes charge Of the
bare land only, supplying his own seed
and farming implements, such as they
are. he usually agrees to pay rental
of one-third Of the crop. If he takes
possession of "home place" and is
provided with a residence, barns, out
houses and, perhaps, some implements,
seed and stock, he must pay One-half
or more of his crop.
If he succeeds a previous tenant he
finds the land just as it was left after
the previous crop had been harvested
the ground unbroken, not an ounce
of fertilizer applied to the soil; the
house and outhOuses in need OF re-
pairs, the fences falling to pieces and
the gates off their hinges.
But if he is to make anything out
of his crop this year he hasn't time
to bother his head about fertilization
when he has no fertilizer, or about re-
pairs to houses, fences or gates: He
concludes that he can get along for the
summer with things as they are, and
will leave the matter of improvements
and restoration of the soil for some
one who may come after.
Haste and Waste.
The tenant farmer produces only the
crops that are easiest of cultivation
and surest of ready sale, such as corn
and wheat. He tries no experiments in
agriculture. He grows no alfalfa, be-
cause it takes time to establish alfal-
ia. He sows no forage crops because
he has no stock to feed. He plants
corn or wheat, something that can be
harvested in a hurry and marketed in
a hurry. The landlord, of course, is
to be blamed for permitting his land
to be misused and poorly farmed, his
buildings and fences neglected and
left to go to rack. But farm landlords,
whether they are retired and moved to
town or are city capitalists who have
acquired the land through speculation,
frequently are as Indifferent and ig-
norant as the tenant. And good farm
tenants are not to be found every
day.
The shiftlessness, the Indifference
and the hopelessnesS of the tenant
farmer is shown not alone in the man
ner in which he abuses the soil and
neglects the improvements on the
farms he works on shares. He is no
less neglectful Of the farm imple-
ments, whether they chance to be his
own or the landlords. On the tenant
farmers place plows, cultivators, rakes
and such other machinery as he may
have used will be seen lying in the
,pIoy. ha1onS in rho fancp
corners, exposed to the weather at all
seasons. If he is too busy to clip the
landlords hedge or to mend hinge
on the gate, he is too busy to drag a
cultivator or moving machine under
shelter. One of the obvious and IA
milar marks on the tenant farm is the
farm implements, susceptible to ruin
by rain or snow, left exposed to the
weather in the fields where they last
were used.
An Agricultural Tramp.
The tenant farmer, because he is
continually on the move, has no
community interests-he has nothing
in common with his neighbors, either
in social or business way. He has
no part in the application of new meth
DDS in scientific neutrality-suspicious.
better live stock by pure breeding or
improving the quality and quantity OF
grain crops by careful seed selection
and scientific cultivation. He is not
cooperative. He is "bushel farmer"
Much that has been accomplished in
improving live stock has been made
possible by owner farmers sharing the
cost OF high class stock animals that
no one member of the community
could afford to buy.
Cooperative methods in Denmark III
the purchase and use OF improved
breeding animals have increased the
production of dairy products 10 per
cent and decreased the cost of prOduc-
ton Is per cent in ten years That
means nothing to the tenant farmer
he has no dairy interests and he is