94 UNITED STAGES - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



vails to a great extent throughout the country today. The speculator 

 wants to get what he can out of the land while he holds it and thus puts it 

 on the market for rent. He is even willing to take a very moderate ren- 

 tal rather than not let it at all, and above all he will not tie his own hands 

 with a long lease. In parts of the grain belt where speculation has reached 

 its greatest development half of the farms are rented. The landlords when 

 asked whether or not the investment is a paying one are likelj^ to reply that 

 the rise in land values makes it pay, though rent alone would not. So long 

 as land continues to rise in value, so long will it be the object of specula- 

 tion, and so long as non-farmers are tempted to buy it for speculation, so 

 long again will it be offered for rent. The relationship between specula- 

 tion and rent is a close one. , I^est the reasoning concerning this point seem 

 to be unduly deductive it may be said that in the older parts of the United 

 States, where the rise in values has become much less rapid than formerly, 

 and especially much less rapid than in the Middle West , the percentage of 

 tenanc}^ is in the first place lower than a few years ago, and in the second 

 place decidedly lower than in the latter section. Moreover, in Europe where 

 farm land is much more stable in value than in America^ tenures are likewise 

 more stable. So long as there are such splendid opportunities for profitable 

 investments to be made in American farm lands, there is sure to be a conti- 

 nuation or even an increase in the proportion of farms owned by one class 

 and operated by another. 



§ 3. Tenancy and types of agriculture. 



The evidence is abundant to show that tenancy follows as the natur- 

 al outcome of conditions, and one of the most important of the conditions 

 is the character of the agriculture in practice. The tenant is transient. 

 Consequently he is bound to adapt himself to an environment which ad- 

 mits of relatively easy shifts. He must get into the routine quickly on 

 arrival at his new home, and must be able to take his possessions along with 

 him from the farm he is leaving. This means that he owns relatively little 

 live stock, that he plants few perennials or biennials, that he invests little 

 money in fertilizers or sub-soil ploughs. The tenants deal with animals and 

 crops that can be made to yield their increase within twelve months. In 

 the truck districts they grow tomatoes, but not asparagus ; potatoes, but 

 not rhubarb. What the tenant wants is a chance to sow, harv^est and sell, 

 all within a year. It is therefore not surprising that tenancy is most pre- 

 valent in the greatest cotton, corn, and wheat districts. In the cotton belt 

 all things seem to conspire to divorce the ownership from the tillage of the 

 soil. The crop is given within the year ; it requires but little capital on 

 the part of the tenant, and but little improvement in the way of buildings 

 and fences on the part of the land level. In the corn belt the broad acres 

 capable of cultivation on a wholesale plan, with the prospect of much pro- 



