34 
BULLETIN 1432, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The experience of women as farmers or as helpers on farms is 
usually somewhat different from that of men, although most women 
who own rented farms have had valuable experience. A consider- 
able proportion of the rented land owned by women was acquired 
by inheritance or marriage. It is likely that the women who acquired 
land by inheritance or marriage in most cases had lived on it prior 
to the death of the persons who left them the land. Of 24,377 owners 
of rented farms who reported their sex 15.3 per cent were women. 
Questionnaires were sent out regardless of sex, and presumably 
women responded normally from each area. The proportion of 
replies which came from women was highest in the North Atlantic, 
East North Central, Chesapeake- Del aware peninsula, and California 
areas, and lowest in the Southern and the West North Central areas. 
OCCUPATIONS OF LANDLORDS OF RENTED FARMS 
1920 
OWNERS OF NORTHERN FARMS 
OWNERS OF SOUTHERN FARMS 
( NORTH OF POTOMAC, OHIO AND RED RIVERS ) 
es&» 
j||f§jjj&k 
/ffi^^L 
^^^H wk 
/ lflj |k 
1 fi^^S 
( 30% JHHP 
ISP^ 36% J 
V mk W 
xJHh W 
>v ^S LEGEND ^^ffl 88^ 
BH FARMING E33 OTHER AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS 
l~ 1 NON-AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS E3 RETIRED OR IDLE 
Fig. 15. — The proportion oflandlords still classed as farmers is much larger in the South than in the North, 
but if retired farmers, many of whom exercise supervision over their rented farms, are considered farmers, 
the difference is not so great. About a third of the farm landlords of the two regions appear to be engaged 
in nonagricultural occupations. This figure is based on reports from 23,000 landlords in 24 States. 
OCCUPATIONS OF OWNERS OF RENTED FARMS 
OCCUPATIONS AS REPORTED BY OWNERS THEMSELVES 
The replies to a question asking owners of rented farms to report 
occupation indicated that 29.9 per cent were engaged at such non- j 
agricultural occupations as banking, real estate, business, and labor, 
30.4 per cent were farming, and an additional 28.2 per cent were 
retired from farming. Of the women owners of rented farms only 
5.3 per cent reported such occupations as banking, real estate, busi- 
ness, and labor for hire, whereas 62.5 per cent indicated that their 
occupation was keeping house (Table 21). 
Comparing landlords of northern with landlords of southern farms, 
considerable difference is to be seen in the proportion engaged in > ! 
farming and the proportion who are retired or idle (fig. 15) . 10 Of 
10 The figure originally appeared on page 534 of the 1923 Yearbook in the article "Land Ownership and 
Tenancy." 
