10 BULLETIX 716, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
one-eighteenth of the corn. Practically all farms have small apple 
orchards. Most of these were intended primarily for home use, 
although a few are used commercially in a small way after the house- 
hold needs have been supplied. 
In addition to beef cattle and fine-wooled sheep, nearly one-half 
of the farms have flocks of over 150 chickens, and these form one 
of the important enterprises of the township. The production of 
market hogs is also important, although somewhat limited on ac- 
count of the limited production of corn. Some of the farms raise 
one or two colts a year, but the production of colts for the last 
five years has been of comparatively minor importance for the entire 
township. 
FAKil TEXURE. 
Only a small percentage of the farmers in Palmer Township were 
tenants. This condition holds good for the entire hill section. The 
1910 census shows that 18 per cent of the farmers in the hill counties 
of Qhio were tenants, while in the more level counties of the State, 
31 per cent were tenants. Some owners in this area rented other 
land, usually a field or two, which they farmed with their own land 
as a farm unit. Since there were so few tenants, and the additional 
acreage rented by owners was so small in most cases, the data for 
such farms have been summarized and used in this bulletin as 
though the operator owned all the land he farmed. 
METHOD OF STUDY. 
During November and December, 1912, the writer visited the farm- 
ers of Palmer Township and made a record of a year's business trans- 
actions of these farms, together with an inventory of the farm in- 
vestment for the beginning and the end of the farm year. 1 This year 
extended from Xovember 1, 1911, to Xovember 1. 1912, and it is 
designated as " the farm year 1912 " in this bulletin. This visit was 
repeated each fall for four additional years, and records of each 
year's business transactions were taken. 2 
Each year some records were eliminated, because a large propor- 
tion of the operator's time was engaged in teaming or in some other 
occupation not directly connected with the farm business: because 
the operator rented out a considerable proportion of the crop acre- 
age; or because the record was incomplete or obviously inaccurate. 
Usable records were obtained for five years on 25 farms, and for 
one. two. three, or four years on 48 other farms. In this study one 
1 An outline showing a method of analyzing the farm business, together with copies of 
the blank forms used in this survey, may be obtained by applying to the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture for Farmers' Bulletin 661. 
" During the visit in 1015 the writer was assisted by Mr. R. D. Jennings, and in 1910 
by Mr. Earl D. Strait, both of the Office of Farm Management. 
