A FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY I3ST BROOKS CO., GA. 15 



usually a house and often a garden plot are furnished. Much labor 

 is also hired by the day during certain seasons, and it is very com- 

 mon to hire by the "piece," the units being 100 pounds of cotton 

 picked, an acre of crop "chopped" or hoed, a bushel of peanuts 

 harvested or shelled, etc. Much of the day and " piece " work is 

 done by women and children. 



CROPPER SYSTEM. 



Under the cropper system the laborer usually receives, in lieu of 

 a cash wage, one-half share of crops he grows, and he. is charged 

 with half the cost of the fertilizer, ginning, bagging and ties, and 

 sometimes half of the cost of seed used. The operator furnishes 

 everything else, including work stock and all tools and equipment. 

 In some cases the operator keeps all the cotton seed and in return 

 does not charge the cropper for any of the fertilizer. Several other 

 minor variations in the contract occur. In Brooks County the crop- 

 per is usually required to plant peanuts between the rows of the 

 greater part of his corn. The peanut crop is almost always pas- 

 tured off by hogs, only sufficient seed being gathered to replace that 

 used for planting. In some instances the operator buys the cropper's 

 share of the peanut pasture, but more commonly the cropper must 

 have his own hogs to gather his crop if he is to profit by it. 



By many persons the cropper is mistaken for a share tenant. 

 But in this section, at least, he is regarded as a wage hand who re- 

 ceives his wages in the form of a share of the crop. He furnishes 

 nothing but labor and is under practically as close supervision in 

 the management of his crop as is the laborer employed for a fixed 

 wage. 



Most of the hired labor on these farms, both wage hands and 

 croppers, are colored. Both labor systems are found on exactly 

 half of the farms, including practically all the larger ones. The 

 operator usually prefers the wage system and the laborer the crop- 

 per system. The reasons for these preferences will appear later 

 in this discussion. The cropper is ordinarily considered to be a 

 somewhat higher grade of laborer than is the wage hand. 



Table IV shows the average cropper's receipts, expenses, and net 

 income per cropper, cotton being figured at the average 5-year 

 price, as it is throughout this publication. 

 27202°— 18— Bull. 648 3 



