38 



N. H. Agr. Experimext Station 



[Bulletin 260 



and 28.2 per cent in land, making a total of 64.2 per cent in real estate. 

 Livestock comprised 24.3 per cent ; motors, used for farm purposes, 2.3 

 per cent; milking machines, 0.7 per cent; other farm machinery, 6.5 

 per cent, and supplies and cash the remaining 2.0 per cent. This per- 

 centage distribution corresponds very closely to that found in the sur- 

 vey of 74 farms in Haverhill, Piermont and Bath in 1915, to which pre- 

 vious reference has been made. The average distribution at that time 

 was as follows : real estate, 66 per cent ; livestock, 23 per cent ; machin- 

 ery, 8 per cent ; feed and supi)lies and cash, 3 per cent. The total capi- 

 tal at that time was $6,322 per farm. 



The Livingston County investigation found the average amount of 

 capital per farm to be $18,195, which is 62.3 per cent more than in 

 Grafton County.^ The difference Avas largely in the value of real estate 

 which was $13,431 for the New York farms and $7,198 for those in 

 New Hampshire. 



Mortgage Indebtedness 



The 1930 census gives mortgage indebtedness for full owners. Out 

 of 1,634 farms reporting in Grafton County, 650, or 39.8 per cent, were 

 mortgaged. The average indebtedness was $1,995, or 38.7 per cent of 

 the average real estate value. ^ The 395 farms in this study included 

 full owners, part owners and tenants. The average investment in real 

 estate was $7,198 ; the average mortgage indebtedness on 135 was 

 $2,888. Principally because of differences in ownership, the figures are 

 not comparable, but they indicate that 34.2 per cent of the farms were 

 mortgaged in an amount equal to some 40.1 per cent of the value of 

 real estate. Other figures relating to sizes of mortgages and their rela- 

 tion to total capital per farm are given in Table 29. 



Table 29 — Mortgage indeMedness. 



New England farm sentiment holds a mortgage in much disfavor. 

 As a matter of fact, good business ability is often shown when a young 

 man selects a better farm than his cash resources might warrant and 

 buys it through the instrumentality of a mortgage. When one starts 

 out to buy a farm to fit his pocketbook, most of the advantage is likely 



