CHAPTER VI. 



RENTED FARMS. 



Through the United States census of 1880 an effort 

 was made to ascertain the tenure of American farms, 

 with the following result : It was found that out of a 

 total of 4,008,907 farms and plantations, 1,024,601 were 

 rented for money or worked on shares. This went to 

 show that, at that time, slightly over 25 per cent, of all 

 the farms of the United States were not owned by the 

 occupiers. 



In studying the census report still further, it will be 

 found that of the 2,208,374 holdings of less than 100 

 acres, 730,702, or ^;^ per cent., were not owned by the 

 occupiers. But of the holdings of from 500 to 1,000 

 acres, 87 per cent, were owned by the occupiers ; and the 

 holdings of above 1,000 acres were thus owned to the 

 extent of 90 per cent, of the total. It is true, the largest 

 proportion of rented farms is in the South, where the 

 land has been rented to the negroes since their liberation, 

 and it is true also that the largest proportion of small 

 holdings are tenanted. 



The census statistics, however, teach us that at the 

 date of their formation 7 per cent, of the farms of New 

 England were occupied by tenants, or one in about every 

 fourteen, and of New York 16 per cent., or one in about 

 every seven. Farther west, on the rich and productive 



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