52 BULLETIN 492, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DIVERSITY OF FARM RECEIPTS. 



The tables previously discussed with reference to tenure and size 

 of farm have shown that cotton raising is the major enterprise of 

 this district and that receipts from this crop represent nearly 90 

 per cent of the income on all the farms. In a study of the 160 

 farms operated by owners only 12 had less than 60 per cent of their 

 total receipts from the sale of cotton, while three-fourths had over 

 80 per cent of their income from this one source. 



Of the 12 farmers with under 60 per cent of total receipts from 

 cotton, 6 raised diversified crops with cotton as the leading cash 

 crop and hogs as the leading live-stock enterprise. These men 

 bought very little feed. The farms had an average of 121 tilled 

 acres and returned an average labor income of $239. Two farmers 

 got nearly 40 per cent of their total receipts from the sale of dairy 

 cattle and their products. They raised only small areas of cotton 

 and instead devoted most of their crop lands to raising corn, grain, 

 and hay crops. One had 118 acres of crops, 9 cows, 1 bull, 4 horses, 

 4 brood sows, and 375 chickens. Besides supplying roughage for his 

 live stock, his receipts from crops and other farm sales were as fol- 

 lows: Cotton, $200; corn, $25; sweet potatoes, $50; watermelons, 

 $150; fruit and nuts, $60. From the 9 cows he sold butter at 35 

 cents per pound to a retail trade, averaging $95 per head, besides 

 receiving a good return from the sale of buttermilk. With 4 sows 

 the receipts from hogs were $233; 375 hens returned $617 from the 

 sale of young chickens and eggs. He operated this farm with the 

 help of two wage hands, hired for 6 months, and made a labor in- 

 come of over $1,000. The other farm was much smaller, only having 

 42 acres of well-diversified crops and with 48 per cent of the receipts 

 from cows, hogs, and poultry. This farmer operated with one wage 

 hand 6 months in the year and got nearly $500 for his year's labor. 



The only other farmer found following a type of farming different 

 from that of the so-called " cotton farmer " was one operating a large 

 business with a great diversity of income. This farm contained 268 

 acres of crops, of which 20 per cent was devoted to cotton, 31 per cent 

 to corn, 25 per cent to grain, 23 per cent to cowpea hay, and 3 acres to 

 sugar cane. Ground peas were grown in the corn. The crop yields 

 on this farm as compared with all the farms studied were excellent. 

 The farm sales were as follows: Cotton, $3,743; corn, $1,060; grain, 

 $1,040; hay, $874; cane sirup. $810; pork, $925; other stock, $64. 

 Of this man's grain sales, $1,000 was from the sale of 1,000 bushels of 

 oats for seed. Aside from some corn, his hogs were practically raised 

 and fattened upon ground peas. This farm was operated with the 

 help of three wage hands and one cropper family, and $600 extra 

 labor. It returned the operator a labor income of $4,468. This was 

 the only well-diversified farm found in this study. The returns this 



