12 BULLETIN 1000, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The more extensive cultural methods followed in Texas, as com- 

 pared with those followed in the southeastern portions of the Cotton 

 Belt, explain in some measure the differences in man-labor require- 

 ments. The lower yields reported for the three Alabama areas in 

 1918 will account for the low labor requirement of those areas as 

 compared with that of the five districts in Georgia and South Caro- 

 lina. There was marked uniformity in the average requirements 

 for man labor in the latter districts. 



Farm manure is not used extensively in cotton production, largely 

 because live-stock farming does not figure as an important part of 

 the farm business. Only 27 per cent of the operators who were 

 interviewed applied manure to a part of the cotton land. Commer- 

 cial fertilizer was applied in all districts except Ellis County, Tex. 

 In Rusk County, Tex., the average application was 145 pounds per 

 acre, while in Barnwell County, S. C, the average application was 

 555 pounds per acre. 



The seed cotton picked per day varied under average conditions 

 from 142 pounds per day in Barnwell County, S. C, to 236 pounds 

 per day in Ellis County, Tex. The average amount picked per day 

 in several of these districts was not far from 150 pounds of seed 

 cotton. It is undoubtedly true that the rate of picking exceeds 

 these average amounts during the early part of the season, more 

 especially for the first and second times over, but late in the season 

 the average rate would be greatly reduced on account of the smaller 

 number of bolls opening at that time. 



Since picking constitutes an important part of the man labor in 

 producing cotton, any noticeable reduction in yield would influence 

 the total man labor requirement. In the Georgia districts it required 

 45 to 57 man hours per acre (district averages) for this harvest 

 work; in South Carolina the range was from 47 to 49 hours per 

 acre, while in Texas the picking amounted to 24 and 32 hours, 

 respectively, for the two districts. 



In 1919 farm survey and cost records were obtained in 12 southern 

 counties, and the acreage of cotton represented in each of these 

 areas was as follows: Anderson (S. C), 2,018; Barnwell (S. C), 

 2,301 

 2,310 

 7,408 



Laurens (Ga.), 3,111; Greene (Ga.), 3,000; Mitchell (Ga.), 



Lauderdale (Ala.), 1,470; Marshall (Ala.), 1,196; Ellis (Tex.), 



Rusk (Tex.), 2,233; Washington (Miss.), 2,524; Monroe 



(Miss.), 1,644; Lee (Ark.), 3,347; making a total of 32,562 acres. 



