FORMS OF LAND TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES 289 



unproductive lands. In the South the practice of giving the 

 landlord one-fourth of the cotton crop was very common wher- 

 ever white tenants engaged in cotton production. It was there 

 most generally found in conjunction with a " third " system for 

 the grain crops. It is common in the South to speak of the 

 " third and fourth " system, which usually means that the 

 landlord receives one-fourth of the cotton and one-third of the 

 grain crops. 



In the " fourth " system the tenant usually furnishes all the 

 equipment and seeds, but in case commercial fertilizer is used, 

 as is sometimes the practice in the cotton country, the landlord 

 pays one-fourth the cost. In the northern states the landlord 

 often furnishes nothing but the bare land for one-fourth of the 

 crop. 



Under the fourth system the tenant is usually left free to 

 produce the crops as he pleases, the landlord exercising little 

 control beyond the determination of the crops to be grown and 

 the area of each. 



The one-third system. The one-third system is very common 

 throughout the United States with the exception of the regions 



FIGURE 19 



