FARMING IN YAZOO—MISSISSIPPI DELTA. 3 
different from those prevailing in other sections of the United States. 
Broadly speaking, it may be said that the different methods of tenure 
in this region represent the various attempts on the part of planters 
to secure a satisfactory supply of labor to grow their cotton, and on 
the part of tenants to secure the best return for their ability to 
produce that crop. 
This region, which comprises about 6,400 square miles, is bounded 
on the west by the Mississippi River and on the east by a line of 
bluffs, and extends from just below Memphis on the north to Vicks- 
burg on the south. Prior to the erection of the levees the Delta was 
frequently subject to inundations. ‘The soil of the region is as fertile 
as is to be found anywhere on the continent. The value of farm 
Jand per acre is between $25 and $50 in these counties, according to 
the census of 1910, as compared with an average of $14 for the entire 
State. This fertile soil, together with a suitable climate, makes the 
Delta an excellent cotton region, and, in 1909, 76 per cent of the crop 
land in the nine counties was devoted to this crop, 21.2 per cent being 
in corn and only 2.8 per cent in all other crops. 
The problem of tenancy is especially important in the Yazoo- 
Mississippi Delta, as will be seen from Table I. 
TABLE I. 
[From the Reports of the Thirteenth Census.] 
Yazoo- 
United | Missis- | Missis- 
States sippi. ‘ sippi 
Delta. 
oucentmenants orm ofall farmers. 25-2 02050 5.082.222. deca 37.0 66. 1 92.0 
Average acres per farm operated by— 
Owners— 
NOT B ss Goce Bo eis Ce Seti i coat Ore med Oe aa eet Ay ee ae a ena 151.6 127.3 123. 4 
JIT ORRON BCLS e etre sel eens Ors exc Gis ese esa es ee am a I Lana a 78.5 45.8 54.8 
Tenants— 
INOW 65565 bo RUSE IS Oe aoe oe rel eens a eet i Meme 5h ae, eee an | 96. 2 34. 5 Zeal 
IPR OIRON Ce Be Se bE etre aig = aes 13 meee eee es nee 66. 4 25. 5 21.6 
Eercent negroes form of rural population ¢...........................-.-..-- 14.5 57. 5 88. 3 
ericent negro tenants form of all tenants......-.-......02..0..2.-..-2.2--- 235i 59. 1 | 95. 4 
Per cent of negro farmers that are— | 
Owners (including part owners and managers)...-..........-.-...---- 24.7 15. 2 | 5.5 
OREMIIS . S68 SRE SLES CUE NEE SARS S & Meola: meinem EAs Sp a seen aie aa | 75. 3 84.8 | 94.5 
4 Population outside of places having at least 2,500 inhabitants. 
Ninety-two per cent of the farms in the Delta were operated by 
tenants. The average size of farms operated by owners was 123 
acres, of which about two-fifths was improved land while the average 
size of the tenant farms was only 23 acres, nearly all improved. The 
average investment in land and buildings on farms operated by owners 
was $5,326 and on farms operated by tenants $1,230. Seven-eighths 
of the rural population is negro, and negroes form 95.4 per cent of all 
the farm tenants. 
