FARM LAND VALUES IN IOWA. 9 



farms out of a total of 70,053 as reported by the 1915 Census. There 

 seem to be no conclusive data as to what percentage of sales would 

 have occurred under normal conditions. However, some indication 

 may be furnished by figures contained in a survey of Orange Town- 

 ship, Blackhawk County, Iowa, by Mr. George H. Von Tungeln, 

 of the Iowa State College. According to this study, 6,936.66 acres 

 in 48 tracts changed hands during the five-year period from August, 

 1910, to August, 1915. This represented about one-third of the 

 number of farms with residences and a little less than one-third of the 

 farm acreage of the township, or an average of about 6 per cent a 

 year as compared with the estimate of 8.2 per cent for the period of 

 the "boom." However, the activity in land transfers in the region 

 in which Orange Township is located was greater than normal during 

 the period from 1910 to 1915, inclusive. 



EXTENT OF RESELLING DURING THE "BOOM." 



It is probable that one travelling through the State of Iowa during 

 the period of the "boom" would have gotten the impression that a 

 large proportion of the farms sold changed hands more than once 

 during the period. In fact, one heard of these cases frequently. The 

 newspapers continually published instances of farms which sold from 

 three to six times. The data concerning farm sales, however, do not 

 indicate that the reselling of farms was practiced as extensively as 

 might be indicated by casual observation. Of 1,024 farms sold 

 between January 1, 1919, and the end of August, 1919, 693, or 67.7 

 per cent, were sold but once; 261 farms, or 25.5 per cent, were sold 

 twice; 48 farms, or 4.7 per cent, were sold three times; and 22 farms, 

 or 2.1 per cent, were sold four times or more. However, a number of 

 instances came to the writers' attention of farms sold five or six times 

 during the period. 



Although the instances of reselling were less numerous than one 

 might have believed from reading the newspapers during the "boom," 

 the process was much more extensive than in normal periods. In 

 short, this reselling was a characteristic land "boom" phenomenon. 



PERSONS ENGAGED IN BUYING AND SELLING. 



BUYERS AND SELLERS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. 



In order to determine the real character and significance of the 

 recent activity in land sales it is important to know what classes of per- 

 sons were most active in the buying and the selling of farms. To this 

 end the residence and occupation of each buyer and the occupation 

 of each seller were ascertained. Table V presents a classification of 

 buyers and sellers according to their occupations. 

 184592°— 20— Bull. 874 2 



