OWNERSHIP OF TENANT FARMS IX THE UNITED STATES 
39 
case of land reported by women as acquired through marriage a con- 
siderable part had been inherited from deceased husbands. 
Comparing different parts of the, country it appears that inheritance 
was more important and purchase less important in the northeastern 
and California areas than it was in the other areas. Of the acreage 
owned by the landlords reporting from the Great Plains areas only 
7 per cent was reported to have been inherited, which is about the 
acreage these same landlords acquired by homesteading. Less than 
a fourth of the landlords of the Great Plains areas had acquired any 
of their acreage by homesteading. Limitations on the area of land 
to be homesteaded have always prevented individual landlords from 
acquiring large acreages of land directly by homesteading. It is 
interesting to note that in these Great Plains areas more than four- 
fifths of the acreage held bv the farm landlords had been purchased. 
(Table 24 and fig. 17.) 
METHODS BY WHICH OWNERS OF RENTED FARMS ACQUIRED THEIR LAND 
NORTHEASTERN 
N.Y., N.J.. PA., DEL.,asd M D. 
NORTH CENTRAL 
OHIO, ILL., MICH, WIS., ano IOWA 
GREAT PLAINS 
KANS., N. DAK., S. DAK.axo OKLA. 
SOUTHEASTERN 
N. C, S. C, VA., GA„and «Y. 
SOUTHWESTERN 
ALA^ MISS, LA, and TEX. 
Purchase 
Inheritance 
Marriage 
^ Homestead 
Fig. 17. — In each section of the country, purchase was by far the most important of the four methods by 
which land was acquired — inheritance, marriage, purchase, and homesteading. Little opportunity 
existed to homestead except in the areas of the Great Plains States 
The questionnaire replies indicate that owners who inherit their 
acreage more commonly rent all of it to tenants than is the case 
with owners who buy it all. Of the landlords who purchased all of 
their acreage about two-thirds rented it all to tenants. Of the land- 
lords who inherited all their acreage over three-fourths rented it 
all to tenants. Of the acreage owned by the purchasers 79 per cent 
was rented to tenants, whereas of the acreage owned by those who 
inherited their land 86 per cent was rented to tenants. Landlords 
reporting for the South .more commonly retained a part of their acre- 
age than was the case with landlords reporting for the North, and the 
southern landlords withheld a larger proportion of their acreage from 
their tenants than was the case with northern landlords (Table 25.) 
