16 
BULLETIN 1068, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
additional, or (4) owner operators}' The term owner is used to in- 
clude both owners additional and owner operators; and the term 
tenant is used to include both share croppers and share tenants. 
Of the 368 farmers from whom data were taken, 192. or 52.2 per 
cent, were share tenants; 83. or 22.6 per cent, were owner operators; 
65. or IT. 7 per cent, were share croppers ; 26, or 7 per cent, were owners 
additional; and 2. or 0.5 per cent, were cash tenants. 18 
SIZE AXD VALUE OF FARMS OF DIFFERENT TENURE CLASSES. 
The average size of the farms varied considerably with each form 
of tenure, as will be noted from Table 9. Share croppers, who had 
the smallest farms, had exactly half as many acres on the average as 
owner operators, who operated 118.2 acres each. Share tenants had 
only 14 acres less on the average than owner operators, while owners 
additional, who had the largest farms, operated 159.2 acres each. 
Table 9. — Average size and value of farms and the distribution of farm values 
for the different tenure classes. 
Number Average 
of oper- acres per 
ators. farm. 
Average value per farm. 
Average value per 
acre of— 
Present tenure class. 
Total 
farm 
value. 
Value of Value of 
land and equip- 
buil dings, ment. 
Value of 
buildings. 
Farm 
land 
without 
buildings. 
Equip- 
ment. 
Share croppers 
Share tenants 
Owners additional 
Owner operators 
65 59.1 ! §10,945 S9,841 SI, 104 
1194 104.2 19,162 16,489 2.675 
26 159.2 | 26,747 : 22,995 3,752 
83 118.2 i 23,408 19,078 3,330 
368 103.3 18.981 i 16.359 2.622 
S703 
1,144 
2,061 
2,215 
1,374 
SI 55 
148 
132 
143 
145 
$19.00 
26.00 
24.00 
28.00 
25.40 
. 
Includes two cash tenants. 
As a class, owner operators are better able than any other tenure 
class to increase the size of their operated farms, for their average 
net worth is more than twice that of owners additional and more 
than eight times the average wealth of share tenants. The fact is 
17 Owner operators own all the land they operate. Owners additional own part and 
rent part of the land they operate. Share tenants rent all the land they operate and 
furnish all labor and equipment used on their farms, and as a rule receive two-thirds of 
the grain and three-fourths of the cotton raised. Share croppers rent all their land and 
furnish only the labor used in operating their farms, the equipment, feed, repairs, etc.. 
being furnished by the landlord and the crops being shared equally. There are two 
distinct classes of croppers in the black land, these classes being known locally as half 
renters and as half hands. The half renter usually gets all the land he can operate and 
docs little work for his landlord. The half hand is allowed only enough land to "hold" 
him daring the year, the aim of the landlord being to use the half hand most of the time 
working on his (the landlord's i farm. The cropper farm, therefore, is frequently a part 
of a Larger unit of farm organization and is discussed throughout this bulletin from tin- 
tenure and operator viewpoint rather than from the organization viewpoint. 
"*These two cash tenants were included with the data on share tenants throughout the- 
bulletin. 
