SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF FARM OWNERSHIP 23 
what would otherwise have been an increased outlay and liability. 
According to the 1920 census, operations were on a sharing basis in 
the case of 93 per cent of the tenant farms of North Dakota and of 
94 per cent of the tenant farms of Cass County. 
Farm buyers in this and adjacent parts of the Northwest in some 
cases have preferred that their farm mortgages and contracts for 
the transfer of land contain protective provisions known as crop- 
payment clauses. Under these clauses the maximum which the farm 
buyer is held liable to pay in any one annual settlement of interest 
and principal is fixed in terms of the value of a certain share of 
the crop yearly harvested. By having his yearly labilities adjusted 
to his crop receipts from year to year, one who buys on the crop- 
payment plan has some of the advantages of the share tenant but 
at the same time pays taxes and makes improvements much the same 
as any other owner. 
Variations in Primary Net Rent per Acre, Selected Farms, North Dakota, 1896-1920 
DOLLARS 
PER ACRE ; 
2 Coe sa 
Pa cheomue tak io Homossed DORs op At 
5 i 
Fees ee 
Farm showing 
be doh Bf 
least variabilit; A F 3 
& eae 4—— eds | 
RL a 7 a 
7 > ? i 
/ = - 
3 tan ETA 
Fras A 
2 i es — ef ____ <7) 
Vi Farm showing 
most variability 
1895 1900 1905 1910 i915 1920 
Fic. 5—The variability of the primary net rent per acre of all land in the entire group 
of farms is less than the variability of primary net rent per acre of all but three 
farms in sixteen, when.taken separately 
Variable. net rents and crop values shown here (see fig. 5) as 
characteristic of the quarter century ended in 1920, if not reduced 
in the quarter century following, and if not made the basis for more 
automatic adjustment of amounts due in annual settlement, may 
justify the refusal of many operators to turn from tenancy as a 
means of getting use of land. Unless trends in the factors affecting 
the economic position of owners of such land are more favorable 
than in the last quarter century, variableness from trends may af- 
ford an additional reason why farmers should defer purchase of 
land until ample resources are in hand. 
SUMMARY 
Phases of experience in farm ownership on which this inquiry has 
thrown some light are as follows: 
Compared with an average gross rent of $5.20, the value of half 
of the products per acre, net rent averaged $2.10 when no deduction 
