6 
BULLETIN 1433, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
rather than farms. They gave the number of tenants on their land 
no matter where their land was situated. The 1920 index of owner- 
ship, on the other hand, is limited to farms rented to tenants in 184 
counties of which 99 were not in the North Central States. 6 
In their replies landlords would naturally include farms and acre- 
ages rented to farmers who owned additional land which they 
farmed. Such farms and acreages are practically excluded from the 
index figures as stated above. For a group of 2,108 owners who had 
land in counties in which an attempt was made to index the owner- 
ship of rented parts of part-owner farms as well as the ownership of 
full-tenant farms, the rented acreage indexed was 92 per cent of the 
rented acreage reported by the owners in 'their questionnaire replies. 
The number of rented farms or parcels indexed was 73 per cent of the 
number of tenants reported. 
On account of the increase in the size of the average tenant farm 
between 1900 and 1920, it is apparent that even if there was no 
Percentage of Rented Farms Owned by Persons 
Owning Five or More Rented Farms in the County, 1920 
per cent 
Evl Under Z 
2-4.9 
S-9.9 
10 and over 
Fig. 3. — Relatively few tenant farms are owned by persons with five or more tenant farms in the 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and northern Illinois counties. There is a higher degree of concentration 
of ownership in central Illinois, northwestern Iowa, and central Kansas. The 14 counties studied 
left blank bad no holdings of as many as 5 rented farms 
change in the degree of concentration of ownership when measured in 
terms of farms owned there might be increased concentration when 
acreage owned is used as a measure. In 1900 the average acreage 
per tenant farm in the North Central States was 129, whereas in 
1920 the average acreage was 177.6 for the North Central States as a 
whole and 180.7 for the 85 counties indexed taken collectively. 
6 Comparison was made between the replies of 7,095 landlords owning in the North Central States and 
the information about the holdings of rented farms of these landlords as afforded by the partial 1920 index 
available. On the point of number of tenants or number of rented farms owned the index agreed with the 
replies of the landlords in 66 per cent of the cases, being over the replies in 4 per cent of the cases and under 
the replies in 30 per cent of the cases. In 88 per cent of the cases the number of farms reported was either 
the same as the index or differed by not more than one farm from the index. The number of rented farms 
indexed was 69 per cent of the number of tenants reported by the 7,095 owners. 
The acreage indexed as rented by these owners was 87 per cent of that reported by them in replying to 
the questionnaires, being the same in 32 per cent of the cases and about as often under as it was over in 
the remainder of the cases. In 11 per cent of the cases the indexed acreage was twice or more than twice 
that of the reply and in 12 per cent of the cases it was half or less than half of the reply. 
The index indicated ownership of rented farms on an average in 1.02 counties, whereas in their replies 
landlords indicated that they owned in 1.27 counties. It should be noted that this latter average is based - 
on the question: "In how many counties is your land? The answers included counties in which 
any was owned whether or not it was rented. 
