STUDY OF PAEMINCi TN SUMTER COUNTY, GEORGIA. 35 



this study are farming on the same farms with the share croppers. 

 Where tenants do not know how to direct the operation of a farm 

 and need supervision, they are better off as share croppers, as then 

 they receive the benefit of the landowner's experience in farming. 

 There is no doubt that on the soils farmed year after year by 

 many of these colored farmers the supply of vegetable matter is be- 

 ing depleted much faster than where the use of more crops, such as 

 cowpeas, velvet beans, etc., is practiced to supply the soil with ni- 

 trogen and keep it in good mechanical condition. Better farm prac- 

 tice is the governing factor in returning the white farmers the higher 

 yields. Many of them plow under heavy leguminous crops to supply 

 vegetable matter to the soil, and they use more fertilizer and practice 

 better tillage methods than does the colored farmer. The latter, as 

 a rule, is very deficient in many of these respects. 



SIZE OF FARM. 



Where farms are devoted almost entirely to raising crops, as they 

 are in Sumter County, the size of the farm is the most important fac- 

 tor bearing upon the effective use of capital and labor involved in 

 the operation of the farm. In Tables XII to XXIV the number of 

 tilled acres per farm has been used as the measure of size of farm. 



RELATION OF SIZE OF FARM TO AMOUNT AND DISTRIBUTION OF CAPITAL. 



In many regions the amount and distribution of capital necessary 

 in operating a farm depend upon the type of farming one desires to 

 follow. Since only one type prevails in this region, the only influenc- 

 ing factor on amount and distribution of capital is the size of the 

 farm business. 



The relation of size of farm to amount and distribution of farm 

 capital on the 160 white-owner farms is shown in Table XII. The 

 farms in the smallest size group average 34 tilled acres and have 

 $3,000 capital; in the next group they average 74 acres and have 

 $6,365 capital; in the third size group they average 123 tilled acres 

 and have $10,226 capital ; in the fourth size group they average 194 

 tilled acres and have $16,190 capital ; in the fifth group they average 

 328 tilled acres and have $30,921 capital, and in the largest size group 

 they average 595 tilled acres and have $53,253 capital. The average 

 amount of capital in these different size groups is practically the 

 same per tilled acre. 



When the capital is divided into real estate and Avorking capital, 

 we find the former item comprising approximately 80 per cent of the 

 total capital in each size group, and working capital 20 per cent. It 

 is when these two items are subdivided that differences in the size 

 groups are found. 



