FARM OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY IN TEXAS. 5 



Of the 368 farms surveyed in this study, 70.4 per cent were oper- 

 ated by tenants. Including the land rented by owners who rented 

 additional land (owners additional), 68.5 per cent of the land oper- 

 ated by all of these farmers was rented land, the value of which was 

 63.7 per cent of the total value of all land and buildings. 



In comparison with most other sections of the country the growth 

 of tenancy in the black land has been very rapid. Since 1880 the 

 total percentage increase in tenantry for the black land has been 24.3 

 per cent, for the State of Texas 15.7 per cent, and for the United 

 States 12.5 per cent. 



Table 1. — Increase in number of farms operated by tenants and oicners in the 

 black land, as compared with the State and the United States, by decades, 

 since 1880* 



Census year. 



Total number of 



farms in black land 



operated by- 



Per cent of all farms operated 

 by tenants. 



Owners 



and 



managers. 



Tenants . 



In black 

 land. 



In State 

 of Texas. 



In the 



United 

 States. 



1880 



26, 703 

 29,005 

 35,871 

 33,018 

 31,924 



19, 155 

 31,805 

 57, 270 

 60, 704 

 62, 245 



41.8 

 52.3 

 61.5 

 64.8 

 66.1 



37.6 

 41.9 

 49.7 

 52.6 

 53.3 



25.6 



1890 



28.4 



1900 



35.3 



1910 



37.0 



1920 



38.1 







1 Computed from U. S. Census publications. 



Evidently, therefore, conditions in the black land have been more 

 conducive to a rapid increase in tenantry than in other sections 

 of the country, and it is the discussion of this growth, its causes, and 

 its effects, that has aroused nation-wide interest in the land problem 

 of this area. 



UTILIZATION OF LAND IN RELATION TO TENURE. 



Agricultural development had scarcely begun in the black land 

 by 1860, as is noted from Table 2. At that time the number of 

 farm operators in the black land was only 7.5 per cent of the 

 Dumber in 1920; and only 4.3 per cent of the total area in the 1!) 

 counties was then in improved farm land, as compared with 51.1 

 per '■'•nt in L920. 



The great increase in the number of farmers lias been taken care 

 of mainly by a corresponding increase in improved land rather than 

 by an increase in t<>t;il land in farms. The number of farms in 



L920 was 13.4 time- ;i - many as the number in L860, but the total 

 acreage in farms WSL8 only 2.2 times as much in L920 as in L860. 

 The total improved acreage in farms, however, in L920 was 11. 1 

 tim<- the amount of all improved land in L860 — a relative expansion 



