22 
BULLETIN 1433, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 17. — Percentage of tenant farms within 3 miles of the owner's residence, 
selected areas, North Central States, 1920 
State and section 
Coun- 
ties 
studied 
Farms 
studied 
Percentage of tenant farms within 3 miles 
of the owner's residence, classified by 
number of tenants 
All 
tenants 
1 ten- 
ant 
2 ten- 
ants 
3 or 4 
ten- 
ants 
5 or 
more 
tenants 
Ohio, western- . ... ... 
Number 
11 
21 
8 
6 
18 
11 
10 
Number 
2, 150 
8,491 
1,285 
1,040 
5,458 
2,081 
3,862 
Per cent 
60 
42 
58 
49 
37 
29 
38 
Per cent 
58 
48 
58 
51 
43 
37 
41 
Per cent 
66 
43 
59 
51 
41 
32 
41 
Per cent 
58 
39 
62 
45 
39 
33 
39 
Per cent 
52 
Illinois, central and northern ._ . 
32 
Michigan, southern... _ 
35 
Wisconsin, southern... .... . 
36 
21 
North Dakota and South Dakota, eastern 
15 
33 
All areas studied. . 
85 1 24. 367 
42 
48 
45 
41 
29 
Percentage of Rented Farms Owned by Absentees 
Selected Counties, North Central States, 1920 
PER CENT 
Px 7 ! Under 6 
Hi 8- 9.9 
ffi&'O- Z4..9 
ggj/5-24.9 
^&25 and over 
Fig. 9.— In 12 counties 25 per cent or more of the rented farms were owned by landlords resident 
neither in the county nor in any one of the adjoining counties. These 12 counties are among the 
more western of the 85 counties studied 
SIZE OF RENTED FARMS OWNED BY ABSENTEES 
On the whole, the rented farms owned by absentee owners are 
larger in total acreage and have a greater average value than rented 
farms owned by near-by residents. In 1900, for the North Central 
States as a whole, the average acreage in the farms rented to tenants 
by residents who lived in the same county was 120, whereas the farms 
of residents out of the State averaged 183 acres. The value of the 
farms of the corresponding classes of owners was $4,664 and $4,784. 
From this it would seem that the value per acre of the farms owned by 
the more remote landlords was considerably lower than for the farms 
owned by persons living near by. Absenteeism is of so much more 
importance, relatively, in sections of the North Central States where 
farms are large and of low value per acre that misleading conclusions 
