A. FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS CO., GA. &9 



Oats are grown on these farms largely as a source of feed for 

 live stock, especially work stock, as a winter cover crop, and to pro- 

 vide winter and spring pastare for hogs and cattle. It is also a 

 source of cash sales, amounting on the average to 4.6 per cent of all 

 farm receipts. On 25 of the farms the sales of this grain amounted 

 to more than 5 per cent of the receipts. The cost records show that 

 as a grain crop, oats, at the average yields obtained, returned but a 

 narrow margin of profit, and the census data in the first part of this 

 bulletin show that both the relative and actual acreage of the crop 

 has been steadily decreasing in the county since 1880. Apparently 

 it is not as a cash crop that oats should fill an important place on 

 these farms, but rather as a source of farm feed and as a pasture 

 and cover crop. 



Eeferring again to Table XVI it is seen that the farms with from 

 10 to 30 per cent of the crop land in oats and rye together returned 

 larger profits than did those with either a greater or a less propor- 

 tion devoted to these crops. 



Cowpeas are grown for hay on practically all these farms, and on 

 one-third of them it is a source of cash sales. It is, in fact, the crop 

 that furnishes the greater part of the hay grown. Approximately 

 one-half of the acreage of oats and rye is followed by this crop, a 

 proportion that is lower than that ordinarily found further north 

 in the State. The lower proportion here is due to the heavy summer 

 rains which often make the curing of this crop a difficult matter. 

 The tabulation in Table XVI, however, indicates that the crop 

 might with profit be grown more extensively than it is. The group 

 of farms with the least of this crop planted returned the lowest 

 profits, while the farms with the largest proportion of the crop land 

 so planted got the highest returns. 



The farms with from 10 to 20 per cent of the crop land planted to 

 watermelons returned greater profits than did those with either more 

 or less. However, this crop is a rather speculative one and too 

 much dependence should not be placed upon such a tabulation. 



Summarizing the results of the tabulations in Table XVI, it would 

 seem that a cropping system adapted to the conditions on these 

 farms at the time this survey was taken should divide the crop land 

 approximately as follows: One-fourth to be planted to cotton, one- 

 third to corn, 20 to 30 per cent in oats and rye to be followed by 

 cowpea hay or a similar crop, and the balance to be planted to 

 miscellaneous crops, the latter depending upon the individual tastes 

 and inclinations of the farmer. The amount of oats, rye, and cow- 

 peas to be grown should be governed by the amount of live stock 

 kept. If many hogs are raised, most of the corn should be planted 

 in alternate rows with peanuts, the latter to be hogged off. 1 



1 For a further discussion of the crops grown on these farms, see pp. 53-57. 



