18 



BULLETIN 1068, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



under shed, while 21 had all of their machinery protected from the 

 weather. 



Of the various tenure classes, share croppers farm the most val- 

 uable land (after deducting building values). Furthermore, the 

 land farmed by share tenants is higher in price than the land farmed 

 by either of the owner classes. This situation, common throughout 

 the cotton belt, is not the result of competition between operators, 

 the most efficient getting the best land, but it is rather the result 

 of competition between systems of farming, with the operators who 

 will grow the most cotton getting the best land. This is largely due 

 to the fact that the owner believes cotton yields him the highest 

 net returns, and to the fact that when cotton is raised the owner 

 can easily ascertain what his share of the crop is and can easily 

 market it. 



OTHER FABJ1S OWNED BY OPERATORS. 



Owners who have farms they clo not operate usually have acquired 

 the additional farms as investments, or in order to have land for 

 children who are growing up (Table 10). A larger proportion of 

 owner operators than of any tenure class own farms they do not 

 operate ; over one-third of all in this class own additional farms, as 

 compared with about one-fifth of owners additional and one-eighth 

 of share tenants. Furthermore, the average owner operator's equity 

 in farms owned but not operated is nearly twice as large as the 

 average equity of owners' additional, and more than four times 

 as much as the average equity of tenants in the farms they own but 

 do not operate. 



Black-land tenants usually say that the land in the region is 

 priced higher than its productive capacity warrants, and that if 

 they buy they will buy where land is cheaper. Evidently, this be- 

 lief has influenced the purchase of farms owned by share tenants, 

 for the average value per acre of the land owned by share tenants 

 was $74, while the average value of the land they operated was $175 

 per acre. 



Table 10. — Operators who own farms they do not operate, and the size, value, 

 and equity in these farms, for the different classes of tenure. 



Present tenure status. 



Number 

 of oper- 

 ators 

 who 

 owned 

 other 

 farms. 



Per cent 



of all 



operators 



in tenure 



class. 



Number 

 of other 

 farms. 



Average 

 acres per 

 operator. 



Average 

 value 



per oper- 

 ator. 



Average 

 equity 

 per oper- 

 ator. 



Per cent 

 of value 



in 

 equity. 



Average 



age of 

 operator. 



Share croppers 



Share tenants 



Owners, additional. . 

 Owner operators 



2 

 25 



5 

 29 



3.1 

 12.8 

 19.2 

 34.9 



2 

 27 



8 

 53 



29.0 

 115.2 

 207.6 

 209.5 



$1, 350 



8,559 



20,726 



26, 589 



81,200 



5,882 



13,274 



25,515 



88.8 

 68.7 

 64.4 

 95.9 



48 

 43 

 44 

 49 



