22 



BULLETIN 1068, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



17 share croppers who reported on this question. 22 Share tenants 

 receive very little close supervision. Nine out of each ten said they 

 were given no supervision by their landlords, and the average number 

 of visits by landlords was only 5 during the year. 



Table 14. — Supervision of tenants by landlords. 



' • 



Operators whose Operators whose Operators whose 

 landlords rive landlords give landlords give 

 n'supeivisiln. 6 ^ S »P<H £» ^^n- 



Visits of landlord 

 per year. 



Tenure class. 



Per cent Per cent 1 



»*•*«■ °repo?t- |»»*bar. ^«fi Number. 

 ing. ing. 



Per cent 

 of those 

 report- 

 ing. 



™ er nuS 



r r g rt ' . op e er- 

 mg - i ator. 



Croppers 



Tenants 



Owners additional. . . 



30 51.7 5'" 8.6 



161 .91.6 8j 4.5 



9 , 100.0 i ! 



23 



7 



. 39.7 

 3.9 



17 85 



100 ! 5 



3 1.7 











1 "Close supervision" as here used means close attention and direction as to how and when the details 

 of farm work should be done: also "no supervision" does not imply that the landlord does not keep in touch 

 with the farm work, but, rather, that he leaves the tenant to work out the execution of the details of farm 

 operations. 



This great difference between the amounts of supervision given by 

 landlords of the two renting classes accounts in part for the social 

 stigma popularly placed on the cropper stage. It is unfortunate 

 that conditions foster this dislike for the cropper stage, for cropper 

 farming can be made to exercise a useful and desirable function in 

 the tenure system of the black land. It offers the young, inex- 

 perienced man, who has little capital, an opportunity to assume part 

 of the risks involved in operating a farm, with a good chance of 

 receiving in return an increased reward over farm wages as payment 

 for assuming part of the responsibilities and risks of an operator. 

 If landlords were more careful about the nature of their supervision 

 and granted more privileges as regards raising a garden, and keeping 

 poultry, and a cow, they would do much to obviate the popular dis- 

 like for the cropper stage. 



Operators were asked if they noted any changes taking place in 

 renting practices. Of 168 operators answering the question, 126 

 noticed no changes, which probably means a lack of observataion on 

 the part of most of the operators. Many, however, believe that the 

 bonus system was on the decline and that it was getting easier to 

 obtain desirable share-tenant contracts from the viewpoint of the 

 tenants. 



— It should be borne in mind that the average man does not like to answer questions 

 of this nature, and for this reason answers were not secured from all operators. Further- 

 more, some of the answers secured were possibly misleading, and where there was doubt 

 concerning the answer given and no verification could be had it was discarded. 



