UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



j>\& m< S*Lru 



BULLETIN No. 648 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY. ^JJ.' 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management. 

 W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief. 



jZ&%su 



Washington, D. C. 



May 1, 1918 



A FARM-MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS 

 COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



By E. S. Haskell, Assistant Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



Description of area surveyed 1 



Method and scope of investigation . .-. 5 



Type of farming 7 



Tenure and landlord's profits 13 



Labor systems 14 



Size of business 18 



Quality of farm business 20 



Organization 30 



Cost of production 41 



DESCRIPTION OF AREA SURVEYED. 



Brooks County is located in the southern part of the coastal plain, 

 just west of the center of the southern tier of counties in Georgia, 

 about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The area covered by this 

 survey is in the southern half of the county, bordering on the Florida 

 State line. The location is shown by the shaded portion of the map, 

 figure l. 1 



This area was selected for study because here has been developed 

 a diversified and profitable type of agriculture, with cotton retained 

 as the chief single source of income. For years these farmers have 

 developed the swine industry and the production on the farm of the 

 products consumed in the home to a point that has been equaled in 

 but few places in the South. It is believed that the type of farming 

 found here embodies features that might with profit be adopted in 

 many parts of the cotton belt. This is particularly true now that 

 the recent rapid advance of the cotton-boll weevil into this section 

 has forced many farmers to face the necessity of reorganizing their 

 farms upon a basis involving less dependence than. hitherto upon the 



1 For assistance in collecting the data upon which this study is based, acknowledgment 

 is due to Messrs. M. A. Crosby, C. E. Hope, A. G. Smith, and F. D. Stevens, of the staff 

 of the Office of Farm Management ; to J. M. Purdom, Jr., temporarily employed by the 

 Office of Farm Management; and to Messrs. S. H. Starr and E. C. Westbrook, of the 

 faculty of the Georgia State College of Agriculture. Special acknowledgment is due 

 Prof. Starr, who also assisted in tabulating the data. 

 27202° — 18— Bull. 648 -1 



