Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-05-27
DO AMERICAN FARMERS
MOVE TOO FREQUENTLY

Washington. Special: Do farmers M
the United States move from farm W
farm. from home to home. as much 40
city people? II they move every le"
wears. are they as efficient lafinsls,
and can they know their farms as my
should? Would constant Shahse nnast
low Yields of crops, and little lntetese
in the community? These are some VI
the questions affecting rural
ties that are coming to foresfouhu
and for the first time a PARTIAL answer
can be given with authority.
During the agricultural census u .slo;
the following question was supmll.eu
to each farmer in the United states
for answer: How long have YOU llVed
on this farm" OF the 1851 ,5O2 farm
operators in the United States. April
Is. 1910. 5.194. 76S. or 81 per cent ans
wered the question satisfactorily. FROM
the data obtained from the answers 10
this inquiry, y bulletin will be issued
soon by Director William j. Harris OF
the bureau of the census. department. Oh
commerce.. 1t was prepared under lhe
supervision OF John Lee Coulter, eX-
pert special agent in charge OF agrl-
culture.
The statistics in this bulletin will
show the length of the periods OF oc-
cupancy of farms in the United States
by states. geographic divisions. and
sections, for different periods of time
ranging from less than one year to
10 years and over, and these data are
further classified according to the
character of the tenur and of the color
OF the farm operators. The statistics
are given for 1910 only. as no cores
ponding data nave been collected
heretofore.
Period Of Occupancy.
One of the most important facts to
be shown in this bulletin is that APP
proximately so per cent of all the far
mers who answered the question salts
factorily had occupied their farms less
than five years. This percentage APP
plies to all farmers. white and colored.
whose answers We're recorded, and for
the entire United States. This short
period of occupancy for ver half Of
all h farmers in this country becomes
all the more significant when it is
taken into consideration that it re-
lu1res three or four years for a farmer
to become acquainted with the various
conditions on his farm. such as soil,
climate. etc. n put it in good con-
d1tlon for raising crops.
Another important fact to be brought
out In this bulletin is that different
conditions are found in different Sec
lions OF the country. In the north 81
per cent. or nearly three-fifths of the
farmers, had operated their farms for
1lve years or longer, while only % per
- ONSAA OnS Year OF i0SS.
In the west the proportions were "A and
u per cent, respectively; while in the
south only Al per cent had been on the
same farm five years or longer, and "a
per cent. or even one-third. had been
there one year or less. A greater num-
Der of farmers had operated their farms
less than one year" than from Give
to nine years. Inclusive" More han
100000 farmers reported that they had
operated their farms 'less than one
year; about $685. 900 reported residence
OF one year; an average of about 457.
600 reported a residence Of two years,
three years" I'M -four years.: and
an average of less than 100000 reported
residence for periods of Five to nine
years."
White and coIored Farmers.
With respect to the comparison he
tween white and colored farmers. wide
differences also appear. For the entire
United States. 49.6 per cent of white
farmers reported that they had been or
their farms less than five years. while
64.5 per cent Of all colored farmer
made the same report. In the cases o1
FARMERS showing for five
years and over. the opposite is the case