18 



EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 344 



Table 1. Percentage distribution of total man-days employment 

 of adult resident males, by source of employment 



Per cent of total employment 



Total 



100 



100 



100 



100 



More than half of the resident households were classified 10 as residence 

 or nonfarm units, one-quarter as part-time farms, and only one-fifth as 

 commercial farms. Combinations of farm and nonfarm employment 

 were the general rule, with wide variation in the proportions of each 

 among the several types of properties. More than half of the commercial 

 farms and nearly all of the part-time farms reported some nonfarm in- 

 come to supplement the farm business. One household in nine reported 

 no earned income from any source during the year. These were gener- 

 ally single and dual person households, composed of elderly, disabled, or 

 widowed persons living on past savings, pensions, or public welfare. 



The amount of farming ranged from none at all on one-quarter of 

 the properties to several man enterprises on the larger commercial farms. 

 Only one household in twelve carried on a full-time farm business of 300 

 or more man-work units. iViiddle-aged operators reported agricultural 

 activity most commonly, and they managed the largest farm enterprises. 

 The oldest and youngest heads of households were dependent to a greater 

 extent upon nonfarm sources of income. 



Commercial farms generally had larger acreages than residence pro- 

 perties or part-time farms but size of property was not a consistent indi- 

 cator of the size of agricultural enterprises. Alore than one-third of the 

 properties greater than three acres (census farms) were being used 

 merely as residences, and a somewhat higher proportion as part-time 

 farms. Elderly couples, lone survivors, or adult sons and daughters were 

 occupying ancestral homesteads of fifty, one hundred, or several hundred 

 acres, without using any land for agricultural production. Such a pattern 

 of land utilization is common throughout rural areas where agriculture 

 has declined relative to nonagricultural opportunities. 



The farm households were the most stable elements in the local 

 population, as indicated by their tenure status. More than 90 per cent 

 of the commercial and part-time farmers owned their properties, a large 

 proportion of which had been in the families for several generations. 

 Tenants were more common among the residence properties, comprising 

 more than one-quarter of all, and nearly one-third in Sanbornton, where 

 there were many factory workers and itinerant laborers on a nearby 

 federal flood control project. The tenants as a group were considerably 

 younger than the owner-occupants. 



10 On a man-work unit basis, page 6. 



