Introduction. This chapter presents the statistics of farms and farm property (including live stock) collected at the 1920 census, classified according to the color of the farm operator and the tenure under which the land was held. Comparative figures for 1910 are given for most of the items, and the number of farms classified according to the color and tenure of the operator is given also for 1900, at which time the color classification was first used in tabulating the census data for agriculture.

In this chapter statistics are presented for white farm operators and for colored farm operators, but there are no totals for all farm operators-that is, for white and colored combined. These totals, may be found, however, in Chapter III, on "Farm Tenure," which gives the farm statistics classified according to tenure alone. Where it is desired simply to compare the statistics for white farmers with those for colored farmers (as will most often be the case), the comparison can be made on the basis of the data presented herewith. And where it is desired to compare the figures for either white farmers or colored farmers with the general totals, the data for all farmers (white and colored together) can readily be found in Chapter III.

The colored farmers in the South are practically all Negroes, while those in the Mountain and Pacific Divisions are practically all Indians or Asiatics. In Chapter V, entitled "Farm Statistics by Race, Nativity, and Sex of Farmer," figures are presented for colored farm operators classified according to race, including a brief tenure classification showing simply owners, managers, and tenants. Chapter V also gives figures for native and foreign-born white farmers, and for foreign-born white farmers by country of birth, in each case with the brief tenure classification.

The several tenure classes used in the 1920 census reports have been defined as follows:

Farm owners include (1) farmers operating their own land only and (2) those operating in addition to their own land some land hired from others. The latter are sometimes designated part owners, the term full owners being then used for those owning all the land they farm.

Farm managers are farmers operating a farm for the owner for wages or a salary.

Farm tenants are farmers who as tenants, renters, or croppers, operate only rented land. They were reported in 1920 in five classes: (1) Share tenants-those who pay a certain share of the products, as one-half, one-third, or one-quarter, for the use of the farm, but furnish their own work animals; (2) croppers-share tenants whose work animals are furnished by their landlords; (3) sharecash tenants-those who pay a share of the products for a part of the land and cash for a part; (4) cash tenants--those who pay a cash rental, as $7 per acre of crop land or $500 for the use of the whole farm; (5) standing renters-those who pay a stated amount of farm products for the use of the farm, as 3 bales of cotton or 500 bushels

of corn. In some cases the character of the tenancy was not indicated on the schedule; such tenants are shown in the tables as "unspecified."

Croppers and standing renters were tabulated separately only for the Southern states; and in the tables giving comparative figures for 1920 and 1910, even for the Southern states, croppers are included with other share tenants and standing renters are included with cash tenants.

Since nearly all of the colored farmers are in the South, the figures for white and colored farmers for the United States as a whole contrast conditions on farms operated by white farmers located all over the United States with conditions on farms of colored farmers located almost entirely in the South. In order to make possible a better comparison of conditions on the farms of white and colored farmers, a separate presentation is made for the South alone, in addition to that for the United States as a whole. The difference between the geographic distribution of white farmers and that of colored farmers must be kept constantly in mind in using the figures for the United States as a whole.

Number and acreage of farms, by color and tenure of farmer: 1920 and 1910.-For both white and colored farmers a higher proportion of the number of farms, of the total acreage, and of the improved acreage was operated by tenants in 1920 than in 1910, while the proportions for farms operated by their owners were somewhat smaller, as shown in Table 2. The increase in the proportion of farms operated by tenants was most marked, for both white and colored, however, in certain states of the Northwest (for the most part states where the percentage was relatively low, even in 1920).

On the Pacific coast and in the South, where most of the colored farmers are located, the proportion of tenants is very much higher among the colored farmers than among the white.

For the United States as a whole, farms operated by white owners in 1920 averaged 168 acres in size; by white tenants, 136.3 acres; and by white managers, 810.2 acres. Farms operated by colored owners averaged 71.6 acres; by colored tenants, 38.9 acres; and by colored managers, 213.7 acres. For both white and colored, however, a larger proportion of the land in the tenant farms was improved than in those operated by their owners; hence there was much less difference between the average acreage of improved land in owned and in rented farms than between the averages based on the total acreage.