18 
BULLETIN 1068, I*. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
under shed, while 21 had all of their machinery protected from the 
weather. 
Of the various tenure classes, share croppers farm the most val- 
uable land (after deducting building values). Furthermore, the 
land farmed by share tenants is higher in price than the land farmed 
by either of the owner classes. This situation, common throughout 
the cotton belt, is not the result of competition between operators, 
the most efficient getting the best land, but it is rather the result 
of competition between systems of farming, with the operators who 
will grow the most cotton getting the best land. This is largely due 
to the fact that the owner believes cotton yields him the highest 
net returns, and to the fact that when cotton is raised the owner 
can easily ascertain what his share of the crop is and can easily 
market it. 
OTHER FARMS OWNED BY OPERATORS. 
Owners who have farms they do not operate usually have acquired 
the additional farms as investments, or in order to have land for 
children who are growing up (Table 10). A larger proportion of 
owner operators than of any tenure class own farms they do not 
operate ; over one-third of all in this class own additional farms, as 
compared with about one-fifth of owners additional and one-eighth 
of share tenants. Furthermore, the average owner operator's equity 
in farms owned but not operated is nearly twice as large as the 
average equity of owners' additional, and more than four times 
as much as the average equity of tenants in the farms they own but 
do not operate. 
Black-land tenants usually say that the land in the region is 
priced higher than its productive capacity warrants, and that if 
they buy they will buy where land is -cheaper. Evidently, this be- 
lief has influenced the purchase of farms owned by share tenants, 
for the average value per acre of the land owned by share tenants 
was $74, while the average value of the land they operated was $175 
per acre. 
Table 10. — Operators who oim farms then (Jo not operate, and the size, value, 
and equity in these farms, for the different classes of tenure. 
f 
Number 
ofoper- Percent 
ators of all 
Number 
Average 
Average 
value 
Average 
equity 
Per cent 
of value 
Average 
Present tenure status. 
who operators 
of other 
acres per 
age of 
owned m tenure 
other class. 
farms. 
operator. 
ator. 
ator. 
equity. 
operator. 
farms. 
Share croppers 
2 3. 1 
2 
29.0 
SI, 350 
SI, 200 
88.8 
48 
Share tenants 
LV> 12. 8 
27 
115.2 
S..V.9 
5,882 
68. 7 
43 
Owners, additional. . 
5 19. 2 
8 
207.6 
20,726 
13.274 
64.4 
44 
Owner operators 
29 1 34. 9 
53 
209.5 
26, 589 
25,515 
95.9 
49 
