10 BULLETIN 213, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL AND THE SHIFTING-TENANT PROBLEM. 



Farmers are recruited from two sources, from the sons of farmers 

 and the sons of agricultural laborers. In going over the original 

 census schedules of 1910 for farmers of Iowa County, Wis., this 

 rather interesting fact developed, that where the tenant and land- 

 lord had the same name the tenant had been on the farm that he 

 was on the day the census was taken for a much longer period than 

 where their names were different. It was found that 31 per cent 

 of the cash tenants who were related to the owner had been tenants 

 on the farms which they were on, at the census date, for two years 

 or less, while the per cent for those where no relationship existed 

 was 65. For share tenants the figures were 50 and 80 per cent 

 respectively. In other words, where there is relationship there is 

 less of the shifting-tenant problem than where relationship does not 

 exist. From other records it was learned that of the total years 

 a man had been a tenant, he had been a tenant on the farm where 

 he was at the time the records were taken 76 per cent of the total time 

 when kinship existed and 50 per cent when there was no relationship. 

 The returns also indicated that where relationship existed 33 per 

 cent had attended high school, but where there was no relationship 

 only 18 per cent had attended high school. In other words, if 

 through the school the farmer could be made to take an interest in 

 the agricultural training of the boy and they could be established in a 

 partnership relation, the shifting-tenant problem would be partially 

 solved. 



EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 



It should be remembered in all vocational training that the boy or 

 girl is always of greater importance than the subject taught. Much 

 is said in these days in regard to the superiority of European agricul- 

 ture compared with that of the United States. If Germany is 

 taken as an example and the yields per acre compared with those of 

 the United States, it would appear that Germany is 50 per cent more 

 efficient than the United States. But the average German agri- 

 cultural laborer cultivates but 7^u acres, whereas the average agri- 

 cultural laborer in the United States cultivates over 27 acres and 

 produces two and one-half times as much as the German laborer, 

 measured by the crops obtained. 



According to G. F. Warren the four principal factors in efficient 

 farming are the size of the business, diversity of crops, crop yields, 

 and production per animal. A large production per acre may not 

 indicate that the farm is being used to the greatest advantage. It 

 was important to determine whether the agricultural instructors were 

 considering this in marking their pupils. Consequently they were 

 asked what standard they had adopted in giving the boy a passing 



