6 BULLETIN 1432, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Landlords owning rented farms in the 184 counties studied in 1920 
owned on the average 1.65 rented farms each, or 169 rented acres 
worth $19,438. 5 In 1900 the owners of the rented farms of the 
United States owned 1.54 rented farms each on an average, contain- 
ing a total of 147 acres worth $3,597, at the time. If these holdings 
of rented farms increased in value between 1900 and 1920 at the same 
rate that farms of all kinds increased, they would have been worth 
$12,590 in 1920. 
In Delaware, the only State for which the ownership of rented 
farms was indexed for every county in 1920, the landlords of its 
rented farms owned 1.29 rented Delaware farms on the average, 
containing, for each landlord, a total of 161 rented acres, worth 
$10,357. In 1900 the landlords of the rented farms of Delaware 
owned an average of 1.32 rented Delaware farms each. At that time 
a holding of that many farms would have contained an average of 170 
acres, worth $5,076. 
Between 1900 and 1920 farm real estate in Delaware increased in 
value at a rate such that property worth $5,076 in 1900 would have 
been worth $10,776 in 1920. The figures suggest a slight decrease in 
the degree of concentration of ownership of rented Delaware farms 
whether measured in terms of rented farms, acreages, or value of real 
estate. 
On the other hand, an opposite trend in concentration appears 
to have occurred in some other States. For instance, in Ohio, in 
1920, the owners of rented farms in the 11 counties studied in that 
State each owned an average of 1.16 rented farms in those counties, 
or 115 rented acres, worth $17,978. In 1900 the rented farms of 
Ohio were owned by landlords who owned an average of 1.12 rented 
Ohio farms apiece, an average holding which would have contained 
105 acres, worth $4,617 in 1900. Between 1900 and 1920 Ohio farm 
real estate increased in value at a rate such that property worth 
$4,617 in 1900 would have been worth $12,350 in 1920. The figures 
suggest an increase in the degree of concentration of ownership of 
rented farms in Ohio whether measured in terms of rented farms, 
acreages, or value of real estate. Other comparisons are afforded 
by Table 3. 
5 Landlords to the number of 24,373 replying to questionnaires for the 184 counties in which the ownership 
of rented farms was studied for 1920 returned replies which indicated the number of tenants on their 
land. Within limits their answers afford a check on the information obtained by the index to the owner- 
ship of rented farms in the areas studied. 
The 24,373 landlords who replied reported an average of 2.33 tenants each. Holdings of rented acres 
averaged 265 for each owner. The index showed that the 256,175 rented farms indexed for ownership in 
the 184 counties studied were owned by 154,730 owners, which amounts to an average of 1.65 tenants apiece. 
The index showed the average landlord to have had 169 rented acres. The index, however, included only 
such rented acreages as were operated by tenants who owned none of the land which they farmed. On the 
other hand, landlords in their replies reported acreages rented to part owners and they reported part owners 
as tenants. 
It is very probable that some of the 24,373 landlords who replied interpreted the question asking how 
many tenants they had to allude to the number of persons resident on their land, including the wives and 
children of their tenants as well as regular hired help. Such a misunderstanding would raise the number of 
tenants reported to a figure higher than the true average. However, one would not expect the average 
number of tenants reported by those who answered the questionnaire to be as low as the average shown by 
the index, since the index concerns rented farms operated by tenants who owned none of the land which 
they farmed and since the index is for only 184 counties and therefore fails to reveal a complete picture of 
the facts about concentration of ownership. 
Another cause of the divergence in the results of the index and of the questionnaire is the fact that the 
landlords who replied to the questionnaire owned more rented farms than the landlords who did not reply. 
That this was the case was brought out by a study of the number of rented farms of landlords owning in a 
number of counties in the North Central States. The index showed that the 7,095 landlords who replied 
from these counties owned an average of 1.24 rented farms, or 267 rented acres each. The index showed 
that the landlords who owned in the same counties but who did not reply to the questionnaire had an 
average of but 1.19 tenants, or 237 rented acres. 
