10 BULLETIX 716, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



one-eighteenth of the corn. Practically all farms have small apple 

 orchards. Most of these were intended primarily for home use, 

 although a few are used commercially in a small Avay after the house- 

 hold needs have been supplied. 



In addition to beef cattle and fine-wooled sheep, nearly one-half 

 of the farms have flocks of over 150 chickens, and these form one 

 of the miportant enterprises of the township. The' production of 

 market hogs is also important, although somewhat limited on ac- 

 count of the limited production of corn. Some of the farms raise 

 one or two colts a year, but the production of colts for the last 

 five years has been of comparatively minor importance for the entire 

 township. 



JAKM TENURE. 



Only a small percentage of the farmers in Palmer Township were 

 tenants. This condition holds good for the entire hill section. The 

 1910 census shows that 18 per cent of the farmers in the hill counties 

 of Ohio were tenants, while in the more level counties of the State, 

 31 per cent were tenants. Some owners in this area rented other 

 land, usually a field or two, which they farmed with their own land 

 as a farm unit. Since there were so few tenants, and the additional 

 acreage rented by owners was so small in most cases, the data for 

 such farms have been summarized and used in this bulletin as 

 though the operator owned all the land he farmed. 



METHOD OF STUDY. 



During November and December, 1912, the writer visited the farm- 

 ers of Palmer Township and made a record of a j^ear's business trans- 

 actions of these farms, together with an inventory of the farm in- 

 vestment for the beginning and the end of the farm year.^ This year 

 extended from Xovember 1, 1911, to November 1, 1912, and it is 

 designated as " the farm year 1912 " in this bulletin. This visit was 

 repeated each fall for four additional years, and records of each 

 year's business transactions were taken.^ 



Each year some records were eliminated, because a large propor- 

 tion of the operator's time was engaged in teaming or in some other 

 occupation not directly connected with the farm business; because 

 the operator rented out a considerable proportion of the crop acre- 

 age ; or because the record was incomplete or obviously inaccurate. 



Usable records were obtained for five years on 25 farms, and for 

 one, two, three, or four years on 48 other farms. In this study one 



1 An outline showing a method of analyzinfj the farm business, tosother with copies of 

 the blanl< forms used in this survey, may be obtained by applyintr to the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture for Farmers' Bulletin 001. 



2 During the visit in 1915 the writer was assisted by Mr. R. D. Jennings, and in 1916 

 by Mr. Earl D. Strait, both of the Office of Farm Management. 



