ee 
ce 
FARM LAND VALUES IN IOWA. 9 
farms out of a total of 70,053 as reported by the 1915 Census. There 
seem to be no conclusive data as to what percentage of sales would 
have occurred under normal conditions. However, some indication 
may be furnished by figures contained in a survey of Orange Town- 
ship, Blackhawk County, Iowa, by Mr. George H. Von Tungeln, 
of the Iowa State College. According to this study, 6,936.66 acres 
in 48 tracts changed hands during the five-year period from August, — 
1910, to August, 1915. This represented about one-third of the 
number of farms with residences and a little less than one-third of the 
farm acreage of the township, or an average of about 6 per cent a 
year as compared with the estimate of 8.2 per cent for the period of 
the ‘‘boom.”’ However, the activity in land transfers in the region 
in which Orange Township is located was greater than normal during 
the period from 1910 to 1915, inclusive. 
EXTENT OF RESELLING DURING THE “BOOM.” 
It is probable that one travelling through the State of Iowa during 
the period of the ‘‘boom” would have gotten the impression that a 
large proportion of the farms sold changed hands more than once 
during the period. In fact, one heard of these cases frequently. The 
newspapers continually published instances of farms which sold from 
three to six times. The data concerning farm sales, however, do not 
indicate that the reselling of farms was practiced as extensively as 
might be indicated by casual observation. Of 1,024 farms sold 
between January 1, 1919, and the end of August, 1919, 693, or 67.7 
per cent, were sold but once; 261 farms, or 25.5 per cent, were sold 
twice; 48 farms, or 4.7 per cent, were sold three times; and 22 farms, 
or 2.1 per cent, were sold four times or more. However, a number of 
instances came to the writers’ attention of farms sold five or six times 
during the period. 
Although the instances of reselling were less numerous than one 
might have believed from reading the newspapers during the “boom,” 
the process was much more extensive than in normal periods. In 
short, this reselling was a characteristic land ‘‘boom” phenomenon. 
PERSONS ENGAGED IN BUYING AND SELLING. 
BUYERS AND SELLERS CLASSIFIED BY OCCUPATION. 
In order to determine the real character and significance of the 
recent activity in land sales it is important to know what classes of per- 
sons were most active in the buying and the selling of farms. ‘To this 
end the residence and occupation of each buyer and the occupation 
of each seller were ascertained. Table V presents a classification of 
buyers and sellers according to their occupations. 
184592°—20—Bull. 8742 
