32 



BULLETIN 648, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table XIII. 



-Relation of diversity to cost of work-stock labor and to farm 

 profits (Brooks County, Ga.). 



Diversity index. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 



diversity 



index. 



Acres of 

 crop land 

 per farm. 



Cost of 

 mule 

 labor 



per day. 



Crop 



index. 



Index 



of 



earnings. 





27 

 54 

 25 



1.5 

 3.0 



4.7 



89 

 147 



194 



SI. 20 

 1.04 



.98 



0.98 

 1.02 

 1.00 



85 



2 to 3.9 



100 





116 









106 



3.0 



145 



1.07 1.00 



106 











It is easily possible for diversification to be carried to an un- 

 profitable extreme. 1 Beyond a not well-defined limit, further 

 diversification may be at the expense of skill and attention to the 

 details of the major sources of income. But it does not appear that 

 any of these groups of farmers have gone beyond that limit. 



Prominent among the advantages to be gained from diversification, 

 increased crop yields, resulting from more frequent rotation, and 

 better employment of labor throughout the year, are usually stressed. 

 However, on these farms there appears to be but little relation be- 

 tween diversity and crop yields, the more diversified farms showing 

 only a slightly higher crop . index ; but the diversified farms do 

 show a distinctly better utilization of the work-stock labor, and it 

 has been shown elsewhere that this factor is an important one. 

 With the increase in diversity, the average number of days of pro- 

 ductive work-stock labor per mule increased from 98 to 115 and 127, 

 with resulting decreasing costs per day from $1.20 to $1.04 and 

 $0.98. 



It thus appears that the more highly diversified farms have a 

 slight advantage in yields of crops, and a considerable advantage 

 in providing profitable employment for the work stock, and in re- 

 turning larger profits per farm. 



PRODUCTION OF HOME SUPPLIES. 



Closely associated with the subject of diversification is the pro- 

 duction on the farm of supplies consumed in the .home. For many 

 years the farmers of Brooks County have practiced, and prided 

 themselves upon, the policy of producing at home a large part of 

 the family living. In but few places will a class of farmers be found 

 that produce for home use a larger amount of food products per 

 family or per person than do the white farmers in this area. 



1 Department of Agriculture Bulletin 341, p. 82. 



