85] THE SYSTEMS OF FARMING 85 



Having seen that the " third and fourth " system is 

 practically a thing of the past, it is in order to see if an 

 analysis of the statistics will throw any light upon the 

 tendencies in the cropping system. A study of the 

 geographical distribution of the farms worked by share 

 tenants for the two dates, 1890 and 1900, reveals a con- 

 siderable shifting in their prevailing location. In 1890, 

 most of the counties north of a line extending from 

 Columbus to Augusta had a percentage of share farms 

 higher than the average for the state. Another group 

 of counties in the southwestern part of the state also 

 had a high percentage of share tenants. In 1900, this 

 small southwestern group is still found, showing, with 

 slight modifications, a high percentage of share tenants. 1 

 Aside from this the significant fact is revealed that there 

 has been a northward movement, across about three tiers 

 of counties, of the line which separates the counties 

 showing a percentage of share-worked farms higher than 

 the average for the state from those showing a percent- 

 age lower than this average. Most of the middle coun- 

 ties and many of the southwestern counties, that is to 

 say, the main cotton-growing area of the state, suffered 

 a decrease in the relative number of farms operated on 

 shares, while the extreme northern and "pine barren" 

 southern counties suffered an increase in the relative 

 number of farms so worked. In many of the middle 

 counties where in 1890 forty and fifty per cent of the 

 farms were worked by share tenants, in 1900 only fifteen 

 or twenty-five per cent fall into that category. The off- 

 set to this relative decrease has been in those sections of 

 the state less inviting economically. This movement 

 taken in connection with other forces yet to be de- 



1 See map in Appendix, infra. 



