A FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS CO., GA. 31 



cation have been repeatedly urged and are familiar to nearly every- 

 one. Especially was the matter of diversity brought to the atten- 

 tion of the farmers of the South by the decline in the price of cotton 

 following the outbreak of the European war. More particularly 

 has the recent advent of the boll weevil into the southeastern part 

 of the cotton belt increased the hazard of dependence upon cot- 

 ton and made the matter an urgent one with farmers of that section. 

 It is of peculiar interest, therefore, to study the farms of a locality 

 where a distinctly diversified agriculture, with cotton as the most 

 important source of income, has been practiced for a long term of 

 years. Such an area is found in Brooks County, which has for 

 years been noted for the extent of diversification practiced. This 

 is particularly true of the southern half of the county, which is the 

 area covered by this survey. It has been pointed out that the soil 

 here is a light-gray sand, representative of the Norfolk sandy loam 

 and closely related types of that series. On this light soil a certain 

 degree of diversification, including the growing of legumes, is a 

 necessity if soil fertility is to be maintained at a point where profit- 

 able yields may be secured. Necessity, thus, to a large extent, 

 accounts for the development of the hog industry in this community. 

 Further north in the county the soils become somewhat heavier, grad- 

 ing into the types represented by the Rustan and Tifton series. 

 These latter are better adapted to cotton than are the lighter soils 

 of the southern part of the county. As a result, cotton is grown 

 there more largely to the exclusion of other crops. 



To study the effect of different degrees of diversification upon 

 profits, the farms studied have been grouped according to the degree 

 of diversity practiced, the measure used being the diversity index. 1 

 The results are shown in Table XIII. The most highly diversified 

 farms averaged the largest in size. Eliminating the effect of size by 

 the use of the index of earnings, it is seen that the least diversifica- 

 tion returned 15 per cent less than the average for farms of a similar 

 size, while the most diversification returned 16 per cent more than 

 the average. It thus appears that under conditions found on these 

 farms, with market prices normal, greater diversity means greater 

 profits. It should not be overlooked that the least diversified farms 

 are largely cotton farms, which carry the risk of both low yields and 

 low markets, a risk that in 1914 proved all but disastrous to these 

 farmers. 



1 On a farm with enterprises all of equal size, the number of enterprises will be the 

 diversity index. For example, a farm with 4 enterprises, all of equal importance, would 

 have a diversity index of 4. However, it is seldom that any two enterprises are of ex- 

 actly the same size or importance. The method of calculating the diversity index, how- 

 ever, reduces all the enterprises to a comparable basis. For the method of calculating 

 the index see Department of Agriculture Bulletin 341, p. 81. 



