STUDY OF FARMING IN SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA. 3 



The cotton type of farming enables men with but very little capital 

 to begin farming. The average capital of colored tenant farm- 

 ers was but $491, yet the average income of these negroes and 

 their families was $506. 



On the white-owner farms the intensive type of farming practiced 

 in this section raises cash expenditures to over 60 per cent of 

 total receipts. If the receipts from cotton should at any time 

 fall off 40 per cent from the average for 1913, these farms would 

 barely pay expenses and would return nothing for capital or for 

 labor done by the operator. 



The colored share cropper realizes 50 pounds of cotton and 4 bushels 

 of corn more per acre than the colored tenant. 



SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 



The best source of agricultural information is the farm. From the 

 individual farmer who has long years of experience may be obtained 

 data that will determine approximately the factors which govern his 

 income. A consensus of such individual data will determine approxi- 

 mately the factors which govern the prosperity of any agricultural 

 region. In the agricultural region involved in this study, devoted 

 almost exclusively to one type of farming, can be found examples of 

 various forms of farm organization and of various farm methods 

 and practices. Some of the farms in this region are yielding much 

 larger profits than others. Some farmers through efficient operation 

 are realizing a good annual income and at the same time building up 

 their farms, while others who are apparently working just as ear- 

 nestly are barely able to make both ends meet. The data secured in 

 such an investigation as this serve to bring out in relief the vital fac- 

 tors of farm practice which account for. this difference. The data 

 presented herewith, representing the experience of 534 southern 

 farmers, should be applicable, not only to the area covered by the 

 study, but to a large portion of the southern district where like condi- 

 tions and a like type of farming prevail. 



AREA STUDIED. 



Sumter County is in the southwestern part of Georgia (see fig. 1). 

 Americus, the county seat, situated near the center of the county, is 

 about 150 miles south of Atlanta, 185 miles west of Savannah, and 

 95 miles north of the Florida State line. Practically the entire 

 county is represented in this study, except small areas in the north- 

 eastern and northwestern districts. 



HISTORY. 



The county was laid out in 1831 from part of Lee County. The 

 first inhabitants came mostly from the older districts of the State. 

 The present population is 29,092, of which 7,849 are white and 21,243 



