STUDY OF FARMING IN SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA. 1 1 



regions. Separate schools and churches have to be built for each 

 race, and thus farms are sometimes located a long distance from 

 community centers. Under the type of farming followed at present 

 in this region the two races are not separated into distinct com- 

 munities, since the large amount of labor employed in operating 

 these farms compels many workmen to live on each farm. 



The white farmers, as far as possible, aim to live in town or to 

 build in communities with their school or church near by. Thus, 

 from their standpoint, the small farm located at a distance from 

 these rural communities or from towns, partly or entirely surrounded 

 by large plantations, is undesirable. Thus the problem of social 

 relations has a vital effect on the organization of the farm com- 

 munity as a whole. 



Naturally the underlying and most significant factor in bringing 

 about the social and economic changes of the reconstruction period 

 was the doing away with the sj^stem of labor in vogue before the 

 war. Large areas that had formerly been farmed on the plantation 

 system now became difficult to operate as farm units, and thus vari- 

 ous systems of handling labor and of farm tenure came into vogue. 

 The negroes were free to work as day laborers, or, where they owned 

 or could borrow a little capital, they could become either tenants or 

 small landowners. 



In order to operate the owned farms under the changed conditions 

 that have prevailed since the Civil War three distinct methods of 

 employing labor have been inaugurated, namely, as wage hands, as 

 share croppers, and as tenants. 



The hiring of wage hands for the operation of the largest of these 

 farms is a serious task, and it is the exceptional rather than the aver- 

 age man who is found operating a large farm with wage hands only. 

 It is found to be about as profitable and less hazardous to engage not 

 only wage hands but also share croppers and tenants in operating 

 some of the larger farms. The scarcity of efficient labor willing to 

 work for wages is the controlling factor in this regard. 



Under the wage-hand system the laborers usually live on the farm 

 and receive a specified cash wage. Eations may or may not be 

 furnished. 



The share cropper usually receives one-half of the crops for his 

 labor and pays one-half of the fertilizer and ginning expenses, while 

 the operator furnishes all the capital, pays all expenses other than 

 those paid by the cropper, and has full supervision of the business. 

 Because the share cropper does not furnish anything but labor he 

 bears a close relation to the wage hand, the only difference being that 

 he is paid a share of the crops for his services instead of cash wages. 



