14 BULLETIN 482, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
LAND TENURE AND CROPPER LABOR. 
A large majority of the farms here are operated by owners, while 
most of the tobacco, and, to some extent, corn and other crops, are 
raised by croppers. These may, however, be regarded as practically — 
laborers, since in most cases the owner or regular tenant of the farm 
on which the cropper operates has general supervision. In most 
cases the owner or regular tenant furnishes the work stock and tools 
and looks after the sales. Receipts from the crops are usually divided 
equally between the farm operator and the cropper. The cropper as 
a rule lives on the farm, has the use of a cottage and small garden, 
and is allowed to pasture a cow or two and a horse, if he owns one. 
This system gives a little added independence to the laborer and 
enables him to support a family, the members of which can utilize 
much of their time to advantage by working in the tobacco fields. 
TABLE V.—Relation of tenure to capital and to rents (averages of 177 bluegrass 
farms). 
ce Eaves aa 
| I t | I t Land ae 
. nvest- | Invest- an cent in- . 
Tonure thes Size of| Total | mentin | ment in | earnings | terest on Bers a 
S. F rennds farm. | capital. | real es- | worlang per real-es- | -¥ nan 
: tate. | capital. acre.1_ |tate value} Pet acre. 
per acre. 
Acres. | a 
Owner farms. ....--..-- 130 303 | $37,741 | $32,645 | $5,096 | $5.97 $5.393| Sasa 
Owner—additional..... 27| 344] 40,056| 33,822| 6,234 4.22| 4.92 { ee 
Cash tenant.......---.- 13 | 356 | 36,377 | 31,483 | 4,894 5. 20 4,42 4.02 
Share tenant....-...-.- 7 192} 27,455 | 23,950 3, 609 7.62 6. 24 7.33 
AUT arin S=s_ eee 4177 309 | 37,991 | 32, 760 5, 231 5.34 | 5. 25 5. 06 
1 Land earnings are the difference between value per acre of total production and total operating expenses. 
Total production includes the value of all crops sold, fed to live stock, and used by the family; also value 
of all live-stock products and net receipts from live stock sold. Operating expenses are all current expenses 
cluding value of products consumed and operator labor and management, but not interest on real-estate 
value. 
2 Cash. 
3 Share. 
4 One additional farm operated by a manager. 
Table V shows the farms grouped on the basis of tenure. One 
hundred and thirty out of 177, or about 74 per cent, of the farms in- 
cluded in this study are owner farms. It is interesting and instructive 
to compare in this table the land earnings with the rental value of 
the land, which is here assumed to be 5 per cent on the real-estate 
investment. The average of all farms in the group earns but 9 
cents per acre more than 5 per cent on the average estimated acre 
value of real estate. The average tenant pays $5.06 per acre rent, 
which is but 19 cents less than the interest at 5 per cent. Some 
farmers fail to clear as much as fair interest on the land investment; 
others clear much more, but the average is not far from 5 per cent 
