2 BULLETIN 603, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Each of the regions selected for this study is a comparatively old 

 dairy section. The one is in Green Count} 7 , Wis., where dairying was 

 first started for the manufacture of Swiss cheese, and the other about 

 Elgin, 111., where the first impetus to dairying was the establish- 

 ment of butter factories (see fig. 1). In the former region, the 

 supplying of milk to condenseries is now encroaching on the cheese 

 industry, while in the latter region nearly all of the milk is either 

 sold for condensation or to the Chicago market. 



The material for this study was. obtained from 84 farm manage- 

 ment survey records taken in the Wisconsin region in cooperation 

 with the State Agricultural College and Experiment Station, and 

 from 59 records taken in the Illinois region, all for the crop year 

 1915. Reference is made also herein to some of the facts obtained 

 from 117 survey records taken by the Illinois Agricultural College 

 and Experiment Station for the crop year 1912 in the same region 



of this State. 



SYSTEMS OF SHARE RENTING. 



THE HALF-AND-HALF SYSTEM. 



The most common system of share rent of dairy farms in the re- 

 gions studied, as elsewhere, is the so-called half-and-half system. 

 Under this system the landlord furnishes land, buildings, the greater 

 part of the seed and fertilizer, and half the productive stock, while 

 the tenant furnishes horses, machinery, half the productive stock, 

 part of the seed, and sometimes part of the fertilizer. All stock 

 on these farms is fed usually from the grain and hay owned in com- 

 mon, and if feed of an} T kind is bought its cost is shared equally 

 between landlord and tenant. In general, each party pays the 

 taxes on all property owned by him, including the farm road tax, 

 though in many cases in the North Central States all the farm road 

 tax is worked out by the tenant. 



Under this system the poultry frequently is owned exclusively, in 

 limited numbers, by the tenant, he getting all the proceeds there- 

 from, but with this exception each party generally receives half of 

 the proceeds of farm sales of all products of whatever nature. 



In the best dairy region of Illinois, that contributing to the market 

 milk of Chicago, the landlord in most cases owns all the cows, the 

 tenant sharing half the loss by death or sales and the repurchases to 

 keep up the herd. Sometimes, in this region, the tenant, instead of 

 standing half the loss by death of a cow, gives the landlord a fixed 

 amount, from $5 to $15 per head of cows dying. 



THE ONE-THIRD AND TWO-THIRDS SYSTEM. 



Less frequently dairy farms are share-rented on the one-third and 

 two-thirds system. Under this system the landlord supplies every- 

 thing but the man labor, which is furnished by the tenant, The 

 landlord, under this system, gets two-thirds of the sales of all prod- 

 ucts and the tenant one-third, and in case feed and concentrates are 

 purchased, the tenant pays one-third their cost, 



