1917] RURAL ECONOMICS. 893 



" The test of productive efficiency may be somewliat slow in acting and costly 

 but it bids fair in the long run to penalize unsound farming regardless of the 

 tenure of the operators, and to guaranty, therefore, the survival of the best 

 forms of tenure and of the best individual operators." 



Tenancy in the South, F. A. Merrill (Bui. State Normal School [Athens, 

 Ga.], 4 {1916), No. 1, pp. 14, fig- !)• — The author discusses in general the ten- 

 ancy problem of the South and concludes with the following statement : 



" To our tenants we ai'e indebted for our wonderful agricultural productive- 

 ness and we must draw our farm leases in such a way that we may aid them in 

 keeping their hard-earned pittances at home. We must evolve some leasing 

 system that will protect our people and that will not place a premium upon the 

 importation of the very necessities of life. The problem of the South has ceased 

 to be one solely of production and has resolved itself into one of wealth reten- 

 tion." 



An economic study of farming in Sumter County, Georgia, H. M. Dixon 

 and H. W. Hawthorne {U. S. Dept. Ayr. Bui. 492 (1917), pp. 64, figs. 6).— The 

 authors summarize the results of this study as follows: 



"Farm profits on these farms for the year of the survey (1913) were in 

 direct proportion both to the number of acres in crops and the yield of cotton 

 per acre. On farms of approximately the same size labor incomes were high 

 when the yield of cotton was high and low when the yield was low. On owner 

 farms of approximately the same size labor incomes were high when the per- 

 centage of crop area in cotton was high, and vice versa. The white farmers 

 of the area are getting a much higher yield per acre than the colored farmers. 



" Cotton occupies 59 per cent of the tilled area of the farms surveyed, and 

 [at 12 cts. per pound] returns 89 per cent of the total farm receipts. Corn 

 occupies over one-fourth of the tilled area and was grown on every farm 

 visited. Oats are the principal small-grain crop and are also used for hay and 

 pasture. Cowpeas for hay and seed occupy about half as much land as corn. 

 About 85 per cent of the land utilized for a second crop in 1913 was in cowpeas. 



" The cost of producing cotton, computed for 534 farms, was found to average 

 about 10.5 cents per pound of lint. The cost of producing cotton on these 

 farms decreases with increase in size of farm. The relative rate of reduction 

 in cost due to increase in acreage is greater for the farms ranging from small 

 to medium than for those ranging from medium to large. The cost of pro- 

 ducing cotton on these farms decreases with increase in yield per acre. The 

 reduction due to increased yield is relatively greater for farms with yields 

 ranging from low to medium than for farms with yields ranging from medium 

 to high. On farms with high yields of cotton per acre the cost per acre was 

 high, but the cost per pound low. 



"Aside from work stock, hogs constitute the most important class of live 

 stock. . . . 



" In efficiency in utilizing labor, mules, and machinery the large farms have 

 a great advantage over the small ones. On the small white-owner farm one mule 

 works 10 acres of cotton and 11 acres of other crops, while on the large farm 

 one mule works 19 acres of cotton and 10 acres of other crops." 



Farna management survey [of Monmouth County, New Jersey], F. App 

 (New Jersey Stas. Rpt. 1915, pp. 184-193, pi. 1). — These pages contain data 

 obtained in the survey previously noted (E. S. R., 36, p. 492). Attention is 

 drawn to the large amount of capital required in this region to conduct a 

 profitable farming business. 



The possible Wayne County farm, C. E. Thorne (Ohio Sta. Bui. 304 (1916), 

 pp. 209-225, figs. 2). — The author has analyzed the results obtained from his 



