STUDY OF FARMING IN SUMTER COUNTY ', GEOEGIA. 9 



and that these two groups are those having the highest proportion 

 of woodland. 



The proportion of the total farm area utilized for crops is shown 

 in figure 3, and the variation from this proportion for the several 

 size-groups is shown in Table I. The smallest two and the largest of 

 the groups each has about one-half of its farm area in crops, while 

 two of the intermediate groups each has slightly over six-tenths of 

 its farm area in crops. The size-groups vary somewhat in the pro- 

 portion of farm area utilized for crops, but this variation is irregular 

 and without apparent significance. 



With the exception of the smallest size-group of farms, there is a 

 remarkable uniformity in the proportion of tillable land utilized for 

 crops. Beginning with the smallest, this proportion, expressed in 

 percentage of the tillable area, is 86, 92, 94, 92, 93, and 94, with an 

 average of 93 for all farms. This shows that practically all the land 

 immediately available is being used for crops. The small additional 

 acreage that might possibly be used for crops at the present time is 

 the area lying idle and that utilized as pasture land, in all less than 

 5 per cent of the total farm area. Thus unless more land is cleared, 

 it is impossible to increase materially the present crop acreage. 



The tillable land lying idle usually consists of fields badly run 

 down in productiveness. In a few instances land was idle because 

 the cropper or renter had moved in the late spring, leaving the owner 

 unable to obtain additional labor to farm the area relinquished. On 

 the average 1.9 per cent or 8 acres of the farm area was idle crop land. 



The percentage of farm area devoted to pasture is very uniform 

 throughout the several size-groups, averaging 2.7 per cent. This 

 would naturally be expected, as practically the only pasture land 

 necessary under the present type of farming in this section is that 

 for work stock and other live stock to furnish supplies for the home 

 and for hired labor. 



Woodland constitutes 32.6 per cent of the land area on these farms. 

 The more common trees are long-leaf pine, oak, beech, maple, dog- 

 wood, and elm, of which long-leaf pine is the most valuable for lum- 

 ber. The land area occupied by forests is mostly along the streams 

 and in the low swampy areas. 



The waste land, which comprises all the area taken up by build- 

 ings, roads, streams, and other nonproductive ways, is fairly uniform 

 in all size-groups, varying from 6.7 to 9.6 per cent, with an average 

 of 8.6 per cent for all farms. 



There is a variation in the value of real estate per acre in the 

 several size-groups, without relation to the size of farm. That it is 

 affected primarily by the percentage of farm land in crops is evi- 

 denced by the fact that the highest real-estate values occur in the 

 65861°— Bull. 492—17—2 



