8 
BULLETIN 1433, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
In 1900 a holding of $25,000 of rented farm real estate was un- 
common. At that time only 1.9 per cent of the landlords resident in 
the North Central States owned such holdings, their land being 
worth 15.8 per cent of the total rented holdings. The rented farms 
of those States then averaged only $4,627 in value. 
The average value of the indexed farms of the 1920 study of 
ownership in 85 counties was $34,661. In a previous paragraph the 
statement was made that the average holdings of rented farms were 
worth $40,554 for the area studied that year. Of the landlords 
indexed 54.6 per cent owned rented farm real estate to the amount, 
of or in excess of $25,000. Of the total value of the rented farm real 
estate indexed 85.4 per cent belonged to landlords who owned in 
excess of $24,999 of such property. (Table 3.) 
Considering the 85 counties together, less than 1 per cent of the 
landlords of rented farms owning in those counties had as much as 
$250,000 of rented farm property in 1920, but the holdings of these 
relatively few landlords represented 7.6 per cent of the value of all 
the rented farm property indexed in the 85 counties. 
Table 3. 
-Concentration of ownership of the value of rented farm real estate, North 
Central States, 1900 and 1920 l 
Total studied 
Peroentage distribution by rented values held 
Item and year 
Less 
than 
$1,000 
Less 
than 
$2,000 
Less 
than 
$5,000 
Less 
than 
$10,000 
Less 
than 
$25,000 
$75,000 
and 
over 
$250,000 
and 
over 
Total 
studied 
Landlords: 
1900 
1920 
Rented farms: 
1900 
Number 
474, 894 
71, 341 
570, 195 
85,416 
72, 928, 715 
14, 995, 822 
Dollars 
2, 633, 833, 027 
2, 893, 162, 875 
Per cent 
13.69 
( 2 ) 
11.85 
( 2 ) 
3.75 
(2) 
1.29 
( 2 ) 
Per cent 
27.79 
1.50 
24.37 
1.27 
11.25 
.16 
4.93 
( 2 ) 
Per cent 
63.10 
5.66 
56.23 
4.77 
38.58 
1.10 
26.38 
.42 
Per cent 
85.60 
14.93 
78.56 
12.59 
65.54 
4.83 
53.19 
2.08 
Per cent 
98.10 
45.40 
94.26 
38.92 
90.00 
25.55 
84.21 
14.59 
Per cent 
( 2 ) 
12.91 
( 2 ) 
21.82 
( 2 ) 
29.50 
( 2 ) 
40.63 
Per cent 
( 2 ) 
0.78 
( 2 ) 
3.83 
( 2 ) 
5.47 
( 2 ) 
7.62 
Per cent 
100 
100 
100 
1920 - ...__ 
100 
Acres in rented farms: 
1900 
1920 
Value of rented farm 
land and buildings: 
1900 
100 
100 
100 
1920 
100 
1 The 1900 figures are for farm landlords resident in the North Central States and concern rented farms 
owned anywhere in the United States; the 1920 figures are for farm landlords owning rented farms in one 
or more of the 85 counties. 
2 Information not available. 
OWNERSHIP FOR INDIVIDUAL STATES AND SELECTED AREAS 
Comparing some of the North Central States with respect to the 
proportion of tenant farms owned by persons owning three or more 
tenant farms (Table 4) it appears that, in 1900, 16.8 per cent of the 
farms owned by residents of Illinois were in the hands of persons with 
three or more rented farms, whereas in Michigan and Wisconsin the 
corresponding percentages were 3.4 and 3.1, respectively, the other 
States being intermediate between Illinois and Michigan. In the 
areas indexed for ownership in 1920 a larger proportion, 18.3 per 
cent, of the rented farms of the 10 central Illinois counties were in 
the hands of persons with three or more farms than was the case in 
the other areas of the North Central States, although in the north- 
