TENANT FARMERS IN UNITED STATES PRIOR TO 1880 249 



perienced agent, who each year directs which fields are to be sown 

 to wheat, which put into spring crops, and which mowed or pastured ; 

 all being arranged in rotation, so as to keep the land in good condi- 

 tion, and give a reasonable chance to make money. The rent being 

 a certain amount of wheat per acre, for the land sown to wheat; 

 something less, in money, for spring crops ; less yet for meadow, and 

 least of all for pasture. The tenant also pays a moderate rent for 

 buildings and orchard, and all taxes. Repairs made by tenant, new 

 buildings and fences by landlord. Stipulations in regard to seeding 

 down and making manure are favorable to the land, without being 

 hard on the tenant. About one-fifth of the farm is generally sown 

 to wheat, which gives a good income to the proprietor, and a good 

 chance to make money to the tenant." * 



While the methods of letting land on the Wadsworth estate 

 have not conformed very closely in detail to the English system, 

 the general principles of estate management are essentially 

 the same. The estate agent is found performing the same 

 functions as in England and the idea of living after the fashion 

 of the English country gentleman has not been lost sight of by 

 the present generation. In 1907 one driving about Geneseo 

 might meet upon the road a carriage party driven by a liveried 

 coachman similar to that of an English squire or a Scottish 

 laird. Considerable space has been given to the Wadsworth 

 estate because it is a rare instance of a landed estate of the 

 English type in America. 



Tenant farming in New York was not confined to large 

 estates. An instance is given of a dairy farm with 25 cows in 

 Herkimer County which had long been operated by the owner 

 but which was being operated by a tenant in 1845. 2 In the 

 sheep regions of New York and Vermont farms were sometimes 

 let to tenants who owned a half interest in the " sheep and other 

 stock." 3 



To quote from The Cultivator of 1844, " The practice prevails, 

 to some extent, of letting farms to tenants, and receiving in the 

 shape of rent a portion of the produce in kind, say a third, half, 



1 New England Farmer, 1867, p. 97. 



2 The Cultivator, 1845, p. 84. 



' Ibid., 1846, p. 287; 1849, p. in. 



