14 BULLETIN 482, U. B. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LAND TENURE AND CROPPER LABOR. 



A large majority of the farms here are operated by owners, while 

 most of the tobacco, and, to some extent, corn and other crops, are 

 raised by croppers. These may, however, be regarded as practically 

 laborers, since in most cases the owner or regular tenant of the farm 

 on which the cropper operates has general supervision. In most 

 cases the owner or regular tenant furnishes the work stock and tools 

 and looks after the sales. Receipts from the crops are usually divided 

 equally between the farm operator and the cropper. The cropper as 

 a rule lives on the farm, has the use of a cottage and small garden, 

 and is allowed to pasture a cow or two and a horse, if he owns one. 

 This system gives a little added independence to the laborer and 

 enables him to support a family, the members of which can utilize 

 much of their time to advantage by working in the tobacco fields. 



Table V. — Relation of tenure to capital and to rents (averages of 777 blucf/rass 



farms). 



Tenure. 



Number 



of 

 records. 



Size of 

 farm. 



Total 

 capital. 



Invest- 

 ment in 

 real es- 

 tate. - 



Invest- 

 ment in 

 working 

 capital. 



Land 



earnings 



per 



acre. 1 



5 per 

 cenl in- 

 terest on 

 real -es- 

 tate value 

 per acre. 



Rent paid 

 by tenant 

 per acre. 





130 

 27 



13 



7 



Acres. 

 303 



344 



356 

 192 



S37, 741 



40,056 



36,377 

 27, 455 



832,645 



S5.096 



S5.97 

 4.22 



5.20 



7.62 



?5.39 



4.92 



4.42 

 6.24 





Owner— additional 



33,822 1 6,234 



31,483 ' 4,894 

 23.950 3.609 



/ 2 $4. 70 



\ 3 12. 60 



4 02 



Sharp tenant 



7.33 











4 177 309 



37,991 32.760 i 5.231 



5.34 



5.25 



5.06 

















i Land earnings are the difference between value per acre of total production and total operating expenses. 

 Total production includes the value of all crops sold, fed to live stock, and used by the family: also value 

 of all live-stock products and net receipts from live stock sold. Operating expenses are all current expenses 

 including value of products consumed and operator labor and management, but not interest on real-estate 

 value. 



2 Cash. 



3 Share. 



< One additional farm operated by a manager. 



Table V shows the farms grouped on the basis of tenure. One 

 hundred and thirty out of 177, or about 74 per cent, of the farms in- 

 cluded in this study are owner farms. It is interesting and instructive 

 to compare in this table the land earnings with the rental value of 

 the land, which is here assumed to be 5 per cent on the real-estate 

 investment. The average of all farms in the group earns but 9 

 cents per acre more than 5 per cent on the average estimated acre 

 value of real estate. The average tenant pays $5.06 per acre rent, 

 which is but 19 cents less than the interest at 5 per cent. Some 

 farmers fail to clear as much as fair interest on the land investment; 

 others clear much more, but the average is not far from 5 per cent 



