HUMAN EFFORT AS A FACTOR IN PRODUCTION 255 



straightened; whitewash or paint goes on the buildings; the team 

 looks a little better and the dilapidated harness is renovated. Finally, 

 the crop is made and a report about it appears in the county paper. 

 It produces a sensation. A meeting is called by the neighbors and 

 the farmer is made chairman; he receives numerous inquiries about 

 his crop and is invited to attend a meeting at -the county seat to tell 

 how he did it. 



He made a great crop, but the man grew faster than the crop. 

 There can be no reform until the man begins to grow, and the only 

 possible way for him to grow is by achievement doing something of 

 which he is proud. He is a common farmer. What line of achieve- 

 ment is open to him but doing better work and securing greater 

 results on his own farm ? As soon as the man begins to grow he will 

 work for every rural betterment. 



73. THE NEGRO AS A FARMER 1 

 BY C. E. ALLEN 



It is the purpose of this paper to present the agricultural situation 

 of the Black Belt of Alabama, by comparing it with the regions imme- 

 diately adjacent to it, north and south, where white majorities of 

 population are found and successful farming obtains. 



In the countries of the Black Belt in 1910 there were 26,138 white 

 farmers and 76,648 negro farmers cultivating 1,798,056 acres in 

 cotton and 812,982 acres in corn. The average production of cotton 

 per acre was o. 27 of a bale, and of corn 10.4 bushels per acre. The 

 cotton acreage in 1910 was 51,840 acres greater and the corn acreage 

 140,614 acres less than in 1900. In the twenty-one White Counties 

 there were 51,131 white farmers and 20,797 negro farmers cultivating 

 917,143 acres in cotton and 771,378 acres in corn. The average pro- 

 duction of cotton per acre was o . 34 of a bale and of corn 11.4 bushels 

 per acre. The cotton acreage was 203,880 acres greater and the corn 

 acreage 102,594 less than in 1900. 



Two significant facts stand out in these records: the per acre 

 yield and the increase or decrease of acreage. As to the per acre 

 yield, it is conceded by all who are familiar with the soils of the Black 

 Belt and the White Counties that by nature the soils of the Black Belt 



1 Adapted from "Greater Agricultural Efficiency for the Black Belt of Ala- 

 bama," The Annals, LXI (September, 1915, on "America's Interests after the 

 European War "), 187-98. 



