TENANCY IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC STATES 501 



farm land in New England is $19.27 per acre, and the per cent 

 of tenancy is 7.9. The variation of this percentage from county 

 to county is not great and does not follow very closely the price of 

 land. The remarkable thing is the relative scarcity of rented farms. 



Not only the low value of land but also the smaller number of 

 acres per farm is an important factor in the value of the farm as 

 a unit. This value in the North Central states averages $9172, 

 and in the North Atlantic states, $4805. Thus for the purchase 

 of a farm in the latter section not much over half the money is 

 required that is required in the former. 



However important the value per acre of land and the number 

 of acres included in a farm may be in determining the line of 

 cleavage between ownership and tenancy, it is certain that some 

 types of farming lend themselves much more readily to the tenancy 

 system than do others. And while it is not so easy to trace the 

 connection between price of land and tenancy in the East as in the 

 Middle West, on account of the greater number of additional 

 influences affecting the result, it is easier to identify some of these 

 latter forces. 



The contrast between the tenant farm of the East and that of 

 the Middle West is striking. In the Middle West it is a little 

 smaller than the owned farm ; the buildings are decidedly inferior. 

 In the East the tenant farm is larger by a few acres than is the 

 owned farm, and the buildings are correspondingly more valuable. 

 These striking differences are due to the fact that the greater pro- 

 portion of tenants in the East as in the Middle West gravitate 

 toward the more extensive type of farming. But in the latter sec- 

 tion this means less live stock and therefore fewer barns ; the 

 grain farming which the tenant follows requiring relatively few and 

 inexpensive buildings. In the East the same motives and circum- 

 stances induce many tenants, in addition to grain growing, to keep 

 a large number of dairy cows, and dairies require good buildings. 

 Therefore the rented farm in the Eastern states has a better, at 

 least a more expensive, set of buildings than has the owned farm. 

 And this is one reason why the rented farm is worth an appreciably 

 higher sum than is the owned farm. 



As in the Middle West, so in the East, the tenant raises more 



