12 



BULLETIN 850, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table VII. — Prospective ownership by tenants. 



Tenants 

 who think 



Locality. hofnrft BnTTin A ™„,t. pay half 



value of a 



farm in 15 



years. 



Years 



Tenants 



Nonown- 



rented 



who own 



ers who 



before 



some 



expect 



buying. 



land. 



to own. 





Per cent. 



Per cent. 



6.2 



40 



96 



9.9 



33 



85 



8.3 



23 



90 



6.9 



30 



92 



5.5 



27 



96 



Kansas: Barton County 



Nebraska: Clay County 



South Dakota: Spink County. 

 North Dakota: Barnes County 

 Minnesota: Renville County . . 



Per cent. 



It will be seen from the table that in only two of the localities 

 visited, namely, Kansas and South Dakota, do a majority of the 

 tenants think, in view of their past experience, that they can become 

 owners in their present localities within 15 years. The owners 

 renting additional land in all these localities, while usually admitting 

 that a farm is not now so readily acquired by a tenant as when they 

 bought, think that they could still become owners were they starting 

 to rent. From 85 to 96 per cent of the nonowners expect to own 

 farms, if not in their present localities, then some place where land 

 costs less. 



BELIEF OF TENANTS AS TO TREND OF RENTS. 



Each tenant was asked to express his opinion as to whether rents 

 in his locality were increasing or not. In the Kansas area, 70 per 

 cent of the tenants thought that rents were increasing and 30 per 

 cent that they were not; in the Nebraska area, 74 per cent thought 

 rents were increasing and 26 per cent that they were not; in the South 

 Dakota area, the tenants were equally divided in opinion with regard 

 to the increase of rent; in the North Dakota area, 34 per cent of the 

 tenants thought rents were increasing, while 66 per cent thought 

 they were stationary; and in the Minnesota area, 85 per cent of the 

 tenants thought that rents were increasing, while 15 per cent thought 

 they were not. 



Tenants who thought rents were increasing claimed that where 

 land was rented for cash a higher rate was asked per acre; that share 

 rent, instead of being one-third as formerly, was getting to be two- 

 fifths; that where the share paid remained unchanged there were 

 fewer instances of tenants getting pasture and hay land free; and 

 that where cash was paid for pasture and hay land it was commanding 

 a higher price per acre. 



