CHAPTER V. 



THE CAPITALISTS GAINING THE LAND— THE TYPICAL 

 AMERICAN FARM. 



The definition of an American farm, as given by Web- 

 ster, is : "A portion or tract of land consisting usually 

 of grass land, meadow, pasture, tillage, and woodland, 

 cultivated by one man, and usually owned by him in 

 fee." His definition of a farm in Great Britain is as fol- 

 lows : " A tract of land leased on rent reserved ; ground 

 let to a tenant on condition of his paying a certain sum, 

 annually or otherwise, for the use of it." 



As a rule, the typical American farm was, and is, 

 worked by the owner and his family, with sometimes the 

 assistance of hired help for a large portion of the year, 

 but frequently without any help beyond the family, and 

 an extra gang for the haying season. He was and is 

 virtually landlord, capitalist, and laborer. His lands do 

 not support an idle aristocracy ; he was and is inde- 

 pendent of the usurer, and he depends in the main upon 

 his own industry, the sweat of his own brow, for the 

 part that man must do to fill his granaries, or for the 

 power to satisfy the wants of himself and family. 



First, then, the typical American farmer, with his grass- 

 land, meadow, pasture, tillage, and woodland, chiefly 

 depending for its care and cultivation upon his own 

 exertions, was and is what is now called a small farmer. 



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