CHAPTER 9 

 CAPITAL 



THE capital per farm was fairly constant until the last 

 fifteen years. The amount of money required to buy a 

 farm and equip it has now suddenly increased. Along 

 with this change has gone an increase in the number of 

 tenants, but it has been shown that the proportion of the 

 agricultural workers who own their farms has not changed 

 much. The proportion of hired-men has decreased as 

 rapidly as tenants have increased. (Table 65.) The 

 higher land values and greater investments in machinery 

 all call for more capital than was once necessary. The 

 average capital per farm in 1910 was $ 6444. 



185. Relation of capital to profits. We have already 

 seen how important it is to have a farm large enough for 

 efficient work. So long as we deal with one type of farm- 

 ing, size of farm is a good measure of size of business, but 

 when many types of farming are compared, capital is a 

 better measure. 



The capital available is becoming increasingly important 

 in farming. Some of this capital may be secured by 

 renting land or borrowing money. Because of shortage 

 in capital, 37 per cent of the farmers in the United States 

 rent all the land that they operate, and 9 per cent own part 

 and rent part of their land. Only a little over a half (54 

 per cent) of the farmers own their entire farms. 



Of the farmers who own all or part of their land, 34 



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