24 
BULLETIN 633, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
proper mixture of coarser material, such as corn fodder, is just as 
good as cowpea hay. Another very important point is that soy 
beans can be Used for hog pasture at any time, for hogs will eat the 
leaves on soy beans greedily, while cowpeas are good hog pasture only 
when the seed is ripe. Soy beans are also excellent human food. 
The subject of legumes is discussed here somewhat in detail be- 
cause of the great need for means of building up soil fertility in this 
region. In yiew of the fact that clover is not satisfactory, it is 
believed that it would be very distinctly advantageous for these 
farmers to sow cowpeas or soy beans, or at least some crop that will 
make a growth that can be turned under after wheat that is to be 
followed by corn. 
TENURE. 
One hundred and thirty-two of the farms studied in this survey 
were operated by their owners; 88 were operated by owners renting 
additional land; 24 were operated by tenants. Of 30 of the larger 
farms, part was rented out, the owner having more land than he 
could operate satisfactorily. Of the 88 owners renting additional 
land, 53 were in the group of grain and live-stock farmers and 18 in 
the group of grain farmers. Exactly half of the tenants were on 
grain farms, 9 on grain and live-stock farms, 2 on grain and fruit 
farms, and 1 on a fruit farm. Less than 10 per cent of the farms in 
this region are operated by tenants. This is much lower than the 
general average of tenant farming in the Middle West, or for that 
matter in any large area in the country. This is due partly to the 
average small incomes made on farms in the region. A tenant farm 
ordinarily must contribute to the living of two families. Hence 
tenant farming is not common outside of the plantation system in 
the South except where the farms are fairly large and productive. 
Table 10 gives some interesting facts about land tenure in this 
region. 
Table 10. — Relation of tenure to profits (132 farms near llonett, Mo.). 
Item. 
Owners. 
Owners, 
renting 
addi- 
tional. 
Owners, 
part 
rented 
out. 
Tenant. 
Landlord. 
Nnmher of farms 
132 88 
30 
S9.2 
10,370 
603 
3.5 
24 
83.4 
1,061 
-177 
IS. 7 
24 
Crop area 
Capital 
Farm income 
Percentage on investment x 
acres.. 
dollars.. 
do.... 
per cent.. 
76.5 
9, 130 
765 
5.2 
87.8 
6,519 
748 
5.8 
S3. 4 
7,144 
232 
3.2 
1 After deducting operator's labor from farm income. 
Tenant farms, on the average, have a larger crop acreage than 
owner farms. Tenants, with a capital only one-ninth that of the 
owners, obtained an income more than half as large. By deducting 
