12 BULLETIN 874, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table VII presents a classification of the alleged motives of sellers 
in making sales of their farms. It is undoubtedly true that motives 
were in many cases mixed. Even when the motive given was the 
desire to retire from farming, to reduce the size of holdings, or some 
other reason, it is probably true that the making of the sale at the 
particular time was due to the favorable prices for farm land. How- 
ever, back of this immediate motive was often some special reason 
for selling. In only 276 cases out of 919, or 30 per cent, was the © 
primary motive given as the desire to realize a speculative profit. 
Even in this group only 40 sellers specifically asserted that they had 
sold for speculation. However, several other types of answers may 
be interpreted as indicating the desire for speculative profit as the 
principal motive. In 117 cases the sellers classed in this group 
asserted that they held the land as an investment, but gave no other 
reason for selling. It is assumed that they sold because of the 
opportunity of making a satisfactory return from the increase in 
value of the land, since they had abandoned their original intention 
of retaining the farm for investment. 
One hundred and ninety-five sellers, or 21 per cent, assigned as 
the principal motive the desire to buy other farm property. It is 
probable that some of these sellers sold their farms in order to buy 
other farms that suited them better, either in size, quality of soul, 
location, or improvements. However, it is also probable that a 
very large number of these sellers who asserted that they were sell- 
ing in order to buy again were simply speculating in farm land. 
They probably sold to realize a profit and bought again for the same 
purpose. Consequently a considerable number of this group belong 
to the class of persons who were selling for speculative reasons. 
In 42 cases, or 4.6 per cent of the total, the alleged motive was 
the desire to reduce the holdings of farm land or to dispose of some 
of the holdings while retaining other land. However, a considerable 
number of answers in this group indicate that the desire was not so 
much to reduce the holdings as to take advantage of the opportunity 
of selling a portion of the holdings at high prices. Consequently 
some of this group belong in the speculative class. 
Two hundred and forty-nine, or 27.1 per cent, of the total gave 
as their motive the desire to retire from farming. Probably most of 
these persons had been intending to retire at some time and seized 
the favorable opportunity of high prices of farm land to fulfill their 
intentions. The high prices for land made it possible for some to 
get enough for their farms to retire on, whereas otherwise they would 
not have been able to do so. Unquestionably, therefore, the large 
increase in the prices for land facilitated the 7 toward re- 
tirement from farming. 
