10 BULLETIN 874, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table V. — Purchasers and sellers of farms, classified by occupations. a 



Occupation. 



Buyers. 



Number. Percent.!) 



Sellers. 



Number. Percent.* 



Farmers 



Retired farmers living in country 



Retired farmers living in town 



Real estate men 



I tankers 



Merchants 



Commission men, produce dealers, auctioneers, and traveling 



salesmen 



Oovernment employees and other salaried persons 



Physicians, dentists, and veterinarians 



Capitalists with no other occupation 



Mechanics and small shopkeepers 



Stock buyers 



Lawyers 



Miscellaneous urban occupations 



Total known occupations 



Unknown, joint or mixed occupations 



Estates sold for settlement 



662 

 18 

 47 

 70 

 61 

 42 



22 

 23 

 14 

 11 

 11 

 11 

 9 

 12 



65.3 

 1.8 

 4.6 

 6.9 

 6.0 

 4.1 



2.1 

 2.2 

 1.3 

 1.1 

 1.2 

 1.2 

 .9 

 1.3 



513 



13S 



104 

 30 

 29 



24 

 15 

 14 

 11 

 12 

 2 



50.3 

 15. 2 

 11.5 

 3.3 

 3.2 



2.7 

 1.7 

 1.5 

 1.2 

 1.2 

 .2 

 1.0 

 1.0 



1,013 

 22 



910 

 14 

 14 



Total farms . 



1,035 



938 



Total rural occupations . . 

 Total urban occupations . 



727 



280 



71.8 

 28.2 



651 



259 



72.3 

 27.7 



a Persons retired are classed according to their former occupatious. 

 6 The percentages are based on the total of known occupations. 



One of the most striking facts indicated by the table is that farmers 

 were apparently more active as buyers than as sellers of farms, con- 

 stituting 65.3 per cent of the buying class and only 57 per cent 

 of the selling class. On the other hand, retired farmers were very 

 much more active as sellers than as buyers, while the same tendency 

 was true of real estate men. Bankers, merchants, and stock buyers 

 bought more extensively than they sold. Eighty-three per cent of 

 the sales were made by three classes — farmers, retired farmers, and 

 real estate men, while nearly 80 per cent of the purchases were made 

 by these classes. 



INTENTIONS OF BUYERS WITH RESPECT TO FARMS BOUGHT. 



In order to ascertain to what extent the purchases and sales were 

 of a speculative character, the buyers were asked to indicate their 

 intentions with respect to disposition of the farms bought, and sellers 

 were asked their principal reasons for selling. Table VI summarizes 

 the results of the first inquiry. The various answers are classified in 

 eight groups. Of the total of 988 cases in which the intentions of 

 buyers were indicated it appears that 665, or practically two-thirds, 

 had bought without intention of reselling, while 244, or a littlo more 

 than one-fourth, bought with the definite intention of reselling. 

 Ninety-nine, or about 10 per cent, bought with the intention of 

 reselling, if possible, but with the expectation of operating or renting 

 tho farms in case they did not succeed in selling under favorable 

 conditions. Probably the majority of this last-mentioned group 

 bought for speculative motives and desire to resell rather than to 

 retain the proporty for permanent investment. 



