38 BULLETIN" 648, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Measured in still another way, the " no-cotton " farms returned 2 

 per cent on the investment, while increasing the proportions of cot- 

 ton gave increasing returns up to 7.7 per cent for the farms with one- 

 fourth of the land in cotton. Further increase in the cotton area 

 reduced the return to 5.6 per cent on the investment. 



These results would indicate that where conditions are similar to 

 those found on these farms at the time this survey was made, but 

 with cotton figured at the normal 5-year price, the proper proportion 

 of the crop land to be deA r oted to cotton to give the greatest farm 

 profits is approximately one-fourth. Other farm-management sur- 

 veys in the South have shown that in the areas represented more than 

 one-fourth of the crop land should be planted to cotton to produce 

 the largest profits. But such surveys have been made on types of soil 

 heavier and better adapted to cotton than those in Brooks County. 

 On such heavy soils, the maintenance of fertility by the growing of 

 legumes, cover crops, etc., is not of such prime importance as it is on 

 these lighter soils. 



Corn is grown in Brooks County primarily as a feed for the live 

 stock on the farm. However, a surplus is sold, the returns amount- 

 ing to 5.6 per cent of the farm receipts. In a tabulation not shown, 

 it was found that the farms getting from 1 to 5 per cent of the total 

 receipts from the sale of corn were more profitable than those getting 

 either a smaller or larger proportion from that source. This would 

 indicate that sufficient corn should be planted to provide for all the 

 farm needs. To insure this, a small margin of safety should be 

 allowed, which will ordinarily mean a small surplus for sale. The 

 proportion of land to be planted to corn, therefore, will be largely 

 determined by the yield secured and the amount of live stock kept. 

 The corn yields reported are rather low, but it should be remembered 

 that the greater part of the corn grown is. planted in alternate rows 

 with peanuts. In considering, therefore, what area can profitably 

 be devoted to this crop, due credit must be given to the pork produced 

 by the accompanying peanut crop, as well as to the improvement in 

 the soil fertility resulting from pasturing off the peanuts. The last- 

 mentioned consideration is a very important one on these light soils. 



In Table XVI tabulations similar to the one for cotton just dis- 

 cussed are also shown for the other important crops. The group of 

 farms with from 30 to 40 per cent, or an average of 37 per cent, of 

 the crop area in corn, gave considerably better returns, measured by 

 both the farmers' earnings and return on the investment, than did 

 those with either a greater or smaller proportion in that crop. This 

 would indicate that approximately one-third of the crop area of 

 these farms should be planted to corn. The cost-of -production data, 

 to be discussed later, suggest that most of this corn should be grown 

 with peanuts as an interplanted crop. 



