A FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS CO., GA. 



51 



COTTON. 



Slightly more than half of the cost of producing cotton consists 

 of man labor, followed in order by mule labor, fertilizer, and land 

 rent. 



The cost of growing cotton was divided between the lint and seed 

 in proportion to the relative values of each. Substituting the aver- 

 age 5 -year price of lint for the price received in 1914, for reasons 

 previously explained, the value of the short staple lint was found 

 to be 85 per cent of the total value of the lint and seed taken together. 

 Therefore, 85 per cent of the cost of growing the crop was charged 

 to the lint and 15 per cent to the cotton seed. The average cost of 



Pig. 19. — Field of Spanish peanuts ready for thrashing. The recent high prices offered 

 for peanuts by the oil mills have greatly stimulated the production of that crop for the 

 market. 



net lint 1 grown by the wage system is 9.3 cents per pound, which 

 reduced to gross lint 1 equals 8.9 cents per pound. The cropper cotton 

 costs 8.9 cents per pound of net lint to produce, which is equivalent 

 to 8.5 cents per pound of gross lint. Since the cotton yield for the 

 season of 1914 was somewhat higher than normal, these costs may 

 be slightly lower than the average for a series of years. 



In certain years a considerable acreage of Sea Island cotton is 

 planted in Brooks County, but in 1914 the amount grown was com- 

 paratively unimportant. The number of records obtained are not 

 sufficient to give a reliable average for this class of cotton, but the 

 results are shown in the table for comparative purposes. 



1 By gross lint is meant the weight in the bale, including bagging and ties. By net lint 

 is meant the gross lint minus the bagging and ties. Except where otherwise stated, the 

 term " lint " is used throughout to denote net lint. The average weight of bales was 510 

 pounds, of which 23 pounds consisted of bagging and ties. • 



