68 



BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



seen to be very little variation on farms of different size except that 

 on the larger farms there is a smaller proportion of the miscellaneous 

 productive work. On the average about 41 per cent of the productive 

 man labor is devoted to crops, 57 per cent to live stock, and a little 

 more than 2 per cent is miscellaneous work. 



Table XXXIII. — Relation of size of farm to distribution of productive work 

 units, Chester County owners. 



Size of farm in acres. 



Per cent of man work units 

 on— 



Per cent of horse work units 

 on— 



Crops. 



Stock. 



Miscella- 

 neous. 



Crops. 



Stock. 



Miscella- 

 neous. 





40.1 

 40.5 

 39.7 

 40.5 

 39.5 

 41.1 

 44.6 



55.1 

 55.3 

 57.2 

 56.0 

 59.6 

 57.8 

 54.6 



4.8 

 4.2 

 3.1 

 3.5 



.9 

 1.1 



.8 



80.8 

 79.6 

 80.9 

 82.6 

 81.2 

 82.5 

 84.3 



15.9 

 17.0 

 15.5 

 15.5 

 16.9 

 15.4 

 13.7 



3.3 



41 to 60 



3.4 



61 to 80 



3.6 



81 to 100 



1.9 



101 to 120 



1.9 



121 to 160 



2.1 





2.0 









40.8 



56.9 



2.3 



81.9 



15.7 



2.4 







In the case of the productive horse labor, about 82 per cent is 

 devoted to crops, about 16 per cent to live stock, while somewhat 

 more than 2 per cent is miscellaneous in character. The proportion 

 of productive labor devoted to live stock is much larger in this region 

 than it is in many other sections of the country. 



TENANT FARMS. 



Twenty-four per cent of the farms analyzed in this survey were 

 operated by tenants. This is a much smaller proportion than is 

 found generally in this country. This is accounted for mainly by 

 the relatively small size of the farms. When the owner of one of 

 these small or middle-sized farms rents it out, moves to a near-by 

 village, and undertakes to live on the income from his farm he finds 

 this income insufficient to meet his wants. Hence, it is customary 

 for the farm owner to operate his own farm until advancing age 

 compels his retirement. He is then usually superseded by a member 

 of his own family and retains his residence on the farm. 



RELATION OF TENURE TO SIZE OF FARM. 



The tenant, even when he owns his own working capital, or half 

 of the principal investment, which in this case is usually dairy cows, 

 has a comparatively small investment. His income is therefore lim- 

 ited to what the farm furnishes toward the family living, what he 

 gets for his labor, and the relatively small income for his invested 

 capital. In order to provide a satisfactory income he must conduct 

 a business of considerable magnitude. Tenants of the better class, 

 therefore, tend to avoid small farms, because of the difficulty of 



