Evening star., 1926-11-02
FEW OWNERS HOLD
HALF RENTED LAND
| 1920 Conditions Same as in
1900, Agriculture Depart.
ment Survey Shows.

A fifth of American farm landlords
own Approximately half Of the rented
farms. the other four-fifths having
only one tenant each. the Depart
ment of Agriculture has found "a the
result Of a survey of the ownership
of rented farms in 1874 counties
grouped in half the States. In degree
of concentration Of ownership of
rented farms, conditions in 1920 were
similar TO those which existed In
1900
Farm landlords reported an average
of more than two tenant farms each
and some landlords, especially some
Southern landlords, have many ten
ants. More than half the tenant
farmers of a group OF Mississippi
counties work for landlords who have
at least 20 tenants. but north OF the
Ohio River landlords with 20 or more
tenants own less than ! per cent OF
the rented farms. In the South many
land owners have tenant farmers only
because they are willing actively to
supervise laborerS who work for an
interest in the crop in lieu of wages.
just a Phase in South.
Farm landlordism in the South is
largely a. phase of farm or plantation
operation. the department says. or
representative groups of owners of
rented farms over half of those in the
South reported themselves engaged I'm
farming, and five-eighths lived on
farms. In the North only a fifth
farmed and three-eighths lived on
farms.
Southern farm landlords who have
made their living in farming quite
generally dispose of their places when
they retire at an age which averages
between SO and 54 years. Although
landlords of Northern tenant farms
who have farmed retire at about the
same age. they quite generally keep
their farms as sources of income on
which to live after they have retired.
Replies of farm landlords to ques-
tionnaire indicate that II per cent of
the farm tenants in the South are re-
lated to their landlords "a per cent Of
the States of the Great Plains, and So
per cent in the North Central States.
Few Absentee Landlords.
There are relatively few absentee
farm landlords and few who have not
had farm experience. Four-tifths of
the farm tenants rent from landlords
who live in the same county, and
more than nine-tenthS rent from land
lords who live either in the same
county or in bordering counties. Land
lords report that more than half their
farms are within three miles OF their
residences.
Farm landlords average about 5S
years Of age; Northern landlords
about go years. and Southern land
lords about 54 The difference In age
is due largely to the fact that the run
of tenants are more responsible in
the North than they are in he South,
and so require less of the supervision
which aged landlords are likely to find
difficult to give.
Most persons who own rented farms
have worked on farms in acquiring
land. Only a sixth of the acreage
owned by farm landlords was in
herited and less than d tenth of the
farm landlords are without farm ex-
perience. That farm landlords are
not a class distinct from the farmers
is indicated by the fact that not very
far from half of the men who own
rented farms have been tenant
farmers themselves, and about three
fourths have farmed for themselves.
Complete details Of the survey have
been published in Department Bulle-
tin 1432-D, "The Ownership of Tenant
Farms in the United States" copies of
which may be obtained by writing tho
Department of Agriculture.