500 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



VALUE OF LAND AND PER CENT OF TENANCY 



The relation of rate of tenancy to value of land may be illus- 

 trated by groups of counties within different states. Dividing the 

 counties of Pennsylvania into three groups, on the basis of land 

 value, it is found that in the group with the highest value 29 per 

 cent of the farms are in the hands of tenants ; in the group next 

 below in value the percentage of tenancy is 21 ; and in that with 

 the lowest value the percentage of tenancy is 16. The same con- 

 dition prevails in New .York, where by the process of dividing 

 the state into three groups of counties on the basis of value of 

 land, the percentages obtained are for the first group 24.5 ; for 

 the second, 23.9 ; and for the third, 18.5. It will be noticed that 

 in New York the range in tenancy percentage is narrow, the dif- 

 ference between the first and the second group being especially 

 slight. This is due in large measure to the presence of a great 

 many suburban homes in the vicinity of New York City and along 

 the Hudson River, which are reported as farms, though in many 

 instances not a great deal of agriculture is carried on in connection 

 with them. Their values are, however, high. 



In New Jersey the greatest proportion of tenancy is not in the 

 counties with the highest land values. These counties, clustered 

 around New York City and other large cities near by, contain a 

 very great number of suburban homes of the kind just mentioned, 

 and this fact, together with the influence of a considerable amount 

 of specialized agriculture of the type accompanying ownership, 

 has prevented the increase of tenancy. 



It is in New England that the lowest proportion of tenancy on 

 any considerable area within the older states of the Union is to be 

 found, and nowhere else is the correspondence of -low-priced land 

 and low rate of tenancy more conspicuous. The average value of 



