Lx>N L. Swift Those who acknowledge that tenancy is increasing attribute the increase to immigration, lack of more fertile public domain, rise in land values, and retirement of older and more wealthy farmers from active work, all of which ideas are the facts that statistics substantiate. As soon as the public land in Oregon is all taken up, as it nearly all now is, that can be cultivated, and no more fertile tracts lay further removed from civilization as has been the condition in the past, tenancy will increase rapidly for years to come unless steps are taken to avert this movement. Many forms of share renting are employed in Oregon to meet the needs of the different kinds of farming and varied conditions throughout the State. For cereal farming when the lessee furnishes everything and delivers the owner's share to market, the lessor receives from one-third to one-fourth of the crop, varying according to the productivity of the soil, distance from market, and other conditions. In the Willamette Valley, the lessor often receives one-third delivered to market and stands no expense except taxes; but the more common practice appears to be a division on this ratio with the grain delivered in bin on the farm. The prevalent rule is the same in other parts of the State except on the large wheat farms along the Columbia River, where the lessor usually furnishes the sacks for his share of the grain and receives one-third of the crop delivered to market if it is not hauled over five or six miles; if the hauling is a greater distance, he receives one-fourth. The fertility of the soil is also taken into con- sideration. When the lessor furnishes the seed, horses and machinery, he generally receives one-half of the crop. On irrigated lands, the owner furnishes all, or sometimes one-half, of the water. Hay, when baled, is divided on the same ratio as grain ; when not baled but put in stack or barn, it is divided -equally between owner and tenant. The lessor furnishes the water for irrigation.
If stock are rented on shares, as they often are, the increase----
