2 86 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



very large part of these paid a fixed quantity of produce, for 

 example a fixed amount of cotton is paid for a given area of 

 cotton land, instead of a fixed amount of cash rent. 



Share tenancy is preferred by many tenant farmers because the 

 risk is less than in cash tenancy. The thought of paying a fixed 

 rent whether the crop is large or small and whether the prices 

 are high or low is not attractive to the majority. And again, 

 many of the tenants do not possess sufficient wealth to enable 

 them to own all of the stock necessary to operate a farm on a 

 cash basis. 



The landlords who live in close proximity to the land which 

 they let, and who have time to devote to its supervision, usually 

 prefer a share of the crop because they find it more profitable 

 to them. The share system is more profitable to the landlords 

 largely because of the close supervision which they give to the 

 farms let on shares. Many of the tenants are young and in- 

 experienced, and are willing to leave the general management 

 of the farm to the landlord, who is very likely to be an elderly 

 farmer, and the fact that he has a farm to let suggests that he 

 has been a successful farmer. All tenants are not so willing 

 to be directed by their landlords, but if they pay a share of the 

 products as rent the landlord's right to give advice is apparent 

 and is a well-established custom, whereas under cash tenancy 

 there has seemed to be less reason why the tenant should be 

 compelled to accept interference on the part of the landlord. 

 The principle being established that the landlord has a right 

 to direct more or less definitely the operations of the farm, as in 

 the case of share tenancy, the landlord has little difficulty in so 

 directing the management of the farm as to preserve the fer- 

 tility of the land. The choice of crops, and the organization 

 of the field-system are subjects which the share tenant is usually 

 willing to leave to the landlord, and in many cases the landlord 

 controls the field operations in the minutest detail. For ex- 

 ample, the depth to which land is to be plowed, the time of 

 sowing, planting, harvesting, and the number of times a field 

 of Indian corn should be cultivated are details to which the 

 landlord often gives his attention under this system of letting 



