34 BULLETIN 1269, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
plantations. They are enumerated and defined, in the order of their 
importance, as follows: "Share" tenants (not including croppers), 
who furnish practically everything except the land, and pay a share 
of the crop as rental; "standing" renters, who furnish practically 
everything except the land, and pay a fixed amount of the staple 
product for rent; and "cash" renters, who furnish practically every- 
thing except the land and pay a fixed amount of cash per acre, per 
mule, or per farm . Cash rent is often involved in a minor way in the 
first two arrangements. 
Four subclasses of share tenants, classified according to the share 
of crop received by the landlord, were found on the various planta- 
tions, namely — third and fourth, straight-third, straight-fourth, and 
half-share tenants, enumerated here in what seems to be the order 
of the extent of their prevalence. The "third" and "fourth" ar- 
rangement, whereby the landlord receives a fourth of the cotton and 
a third of other crops, is found in all cotton-plantation areas except 
North Carolina and South Carolina, and this form of share renting 
predominates in the more important parts of the plantation region. 
The straight- third method of renting, whereby the landlord receives 
a third of all crops, is found to a considerable extent in the Ked River 
Valley in Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta section, and occasion- 
ally in the other more eastern localities. The straight-fourth arrange- 
ment, whereby the landlord receives a fourth of both cotton and corn, 
is more often found in the riot well-drained or less desirable localities 
of Louisiana and Mississippi. Half-share renting, whereby the land- 
lord receives a half of all crops, which is not to be confused with the 
cropper system, according to information at hand, is most commonly 
used on plantations in South Carolina and is occasionally found 
in Georgia and Alabama. 27 
Standing renters are more numerous in Georgia, but are found in 
limited numbers in practically all sections. Likewise, cash renters 
are found in most areas, but on plantations they are more numerous 
in the Alabama-Mississippi Black Belt. Cash rent for crop land other 
than cotton is involved also in the other systems of renting just out- 
lined, as explained in detail later. 28 
The 38.1 per cent of tenancy, as measured by the percentage of 
improved land worked by tenants, may be analyzed with respect to 
the proportions of tenant classes employed on the plantation. It is 
evident at first glance that share tenancy predominates in the region 
as a whole, and in most of the areas separately. In the 93 counties, 
55.3 per cent of the tenant land (52.71 lor share and 2.54 for share- 
cash) was operated by share tenants. Cash tenants had 31 per cent, 
and standing renters 13.8 per cent, as shown by Part 1 of Table 5, 
Appendix C. 29 However, in the Alabama-Mississippi Black Belt 
only 21.6 per cent of the land (including only 0.46 per cent of share- 
cash) was worked by share tenants, while 69 per cent was worked by 
cash renters. About the same percentage (23 per cent share tenancy) 
occurs in Georgia, except that in Georgia standing renting takes the 
lead with 56.2 per cent. In the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta the share 
27 Only one instance of this form of renting was found in Alabama. It was on a plantation with more 
than LOO tenants in Autauga County. 
•" The share-cash ten mis (treated statistically in the census) on the plantation are usually share renters 
With a few acres of cash-rented land for corn and other nonstaple crops. 
isb tenancy on the plantation, when the rent is paid in a given amount of cash per farm or per "plow," 
is locally referred to as "standing" renting. 
