48 



BULLETIN 45)2, l\ S. DKI'AHTMKM OF AGRICULTURE. 



In a comparison of the yield of oats for grain, the large farms seem 

 to have a slight advantage. 



Table XXII. — Relation of size of farm to yield per acre of crops on 160 farms 

 operated by white owner*. Sumter ('(unity, {la. 



Crop. 



Wage cotton bale. . 



Share-cropper cotton do 



Total cotton do 



Wage corn bushels. . 



Share-cropper corn do 



Total corn do 



Oats for grain do 



Cowpea hay ton. . 



Sweet potatoes bushels. . 



Cane sirup gallons. . 



Yield of crops per aero in each specified tilled acreage group. 



50 acres 51 to 100 

 and less acres. 



0.50 

 .52 



28 



112 

 176 



0.58 

 .57 



.57 



24 



112 

 161 



.60 



101 to 150 151 to 250 251 to 450 

 acres. acres. acres. 



0.62 

 .54 



.56 



0.68 

 .56 



13 



22 



98 



154 



93 



261 



0.55 

 .50 



.52 



100 

 166 



Over 450 

 acres. 



0. 63 

 .50 



29 



117 

 135 



.63 



Total. 



0.61 

 .53 



26 



103 

 1S1 



There is such a wide range of method in managing the cowpea 

 crop that it is hard to make a comparison of the yields on farms of 

 different size. In this area cowpeas are most commonly grown after 

 winter oats or other grains and used for hay, while the crop for seed 

 is usually grown between the corn rows. Table XXII shows that 

 on the average these men harvested about three-fourths of a ton per 

 acre of this crop and that the size of the /farm had no appreciable 

 bearing upon the yields received. 



Sweet potatoes were raised for home use on a majority of the 

 farms, but the yield was not affected in any way by the size of the 

 farm. The yield ranged from 93 to 117 bushels per acre. 



The growing of sugar cane was mostly for home use. This crop 

 averaged one-half acre per farm, yielding at the rate of 181 gallons 

 of cane sirup per acre, and showed a wide range in yield for the 

 different groups. 



The larger farms devoted relatively more land to cotton and neces- 

 sarily used more fertilizer per tilled acre, which undoubtedly is the 

 big factor in returning them the larger yields they received from 

 some of the important crops other than cotton. 



In Table XXIII is shown the relation between size of farm and 

 yield per acre of crops on the 186 colored-tenant farms. 



Cotton, with very little variation in the several size groups, yielded 

 an average of 0.42 bale per acre. On the average, these men had 38 

 acres of cotton. If they had gotten the same yield as the white 

 owners, they would have had 5 more bales of cotton per farm. 





