46 
BULLETIN 1432, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Such families are relatively few. Of 24,364 landlords who answered 
the questionnaire only 191 indicated that they owned 20 or more 
rented farms. They owned 7,349 rented farms. Only 147 of the 191 
had children. The children of these landlords numbered 538 and the 
tenants 5,962. Of these children only 28 were of parents with one 
child, 56 were of parents with two children, and 69 were of parents 
with three children (fig. 21). 
The fact that 87 of 147 landlords with children and with 20 or 
more tenants were landlords owning in the Mississippi and Alabama 
area and that only 12 were landlords owning in the north central 
areas will have considerable significance to those who appreciate the 
difference in the tenant farms for the two localities. A single tenant 
farm in the North Central States might easily have a sale value ex- 
ceeding that of 20 tenant farms of the South. 
NUMBER OF RENTED FARMS OWNED BY FARM LANDLORDS IN RELATION TO 
NUMBER OF CHILDREN 
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN 
80 60 40 20 
TENANT FARMS 
OWNED BY PARENTS 
THOUSANDS OF TENANT FARMS 
20 40 60 80 
-3-4- 
9 
10-19 --• 
20 + 
- ANY NUMBER 
Fig. 21.— The figure shows the distribution of ownership of 46,797 tenant farms among owners with 1, 2, 3 
or 4, 5 to 9, 10 to 19, or 20, or more tenant farms. By showing the number of children of each group of 
owners the figure reveals how few of the children of farm landlords may hope to inherit as much as a 
farm apiece from their parents 
SUMMARY 
This study of ownership of rented farms is based on conditions 
in 1920 in 184 selected counties where tenancy was important. The 
counties used are believed to be representative so that the conclu- 
sions apply in a broad way to the country as a whole. 
The degree of concentration in the ownership of rented farms 
was similar in 1920 to that existing in 1900. In 1900 the rented 
farms of the country were owned by landlords whose holdings aver- 
aged 1.54 rented farms, representing 147 rented acres for each owner. 
In 1920 the ownership of 256,175 rented farms in selected parts of 
the country was in the hands of landlords who had an average of 
1.65 of these rented farms each, or an average of 169 rented acres each. 
Large holdings of rented farms are few in the Northern States but 
fairly common in the Southern States; the largest holdings being in 
cotton-plantation counties. Rented holdings of high value are as 
