40 



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



The above percentages of the crop area in the different crops are 

 very close to the average for all of the farms studied, though there 

 is a wide range in the proportions found on the different farms. 

 Likewise, when the 25 farms showing the best returns are selected, 

 it is found that the crop areas are divided in proportions very 

 closely approaching those found to be the most profitable in the 

 above tabulation. 



Elsewhere it has been pointed out that since this survey was made 

 the cotton-boll weevil has invaded the county, and it can not be 

 doubted that the proper organization of the farms has been to a 

 large extent changed thereby. Whether or not the proportion of 

 land in cotton found by this study to be most profitable will continue 

 to be so under boll-weevil conditions can not be answered by the 

 data at hand. It is certain, however, that the cost and hazard of 

 growing the crop have been greatly increased, especially in this 

 immediate section, where the mild winters and heavy summer rain- 

 fall favor the work of the weevil considerably more than do condi- 

 tions even a short distance farther north in the State. In other 

 infested areas with similar soil and climatic conditions, but where 

 cotton has been more exclusively relied upon as the source of the 

 farm income, a reduction in the proportion of land in cotton will 

 likely be necessary. To the farmers in such areas, this study of the 

 diversified farms of Brooks County should be of considerable value. 



Table XVII. — Relation of swine raising to farm profits (Brooks County, Ga.). 



Number of hogs per 100 acres crop land. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 

 number 

 of hogs 

 per 100 

 acres 

 crop land. 



Index of 

 earnings. 



Per cent 

 return on 

 invest- 

 ment. 





19 

 42 

 26 

 19 



18.8 

 32.4 

 50.3 

 74.1 



92 

 94 

 97 

 124 



5.1 



20 to 40 



5.1 



40to60 



7.0 





8.6 









106 



41.8 



100 



6.2 







The presence of the boll weevil in the region of this survey must 

 mean for many of the farmers a reduction in the proportion of 

 the land planted to cotton. The question of what to substitute for 

 the cotton displaced is a serious problem, a partial answer to which 

 is found in Table XVII. The farms have here been grouped on 

 the basis of the number of hogs kept per 100 acres of crop land. 

 The group of farms with less than 20 hogs per 100 acres returned 

 earnings equal to but 92 per cent of those from farms of a similar 

 size, but as the number of hogs increased the returns increased. The 

 farms with more than 60 hogs per 100 acres, or an average of 74.1, 

 gave earnings 24 per cent higher than the average. Likewise, the 



