58 



BULLETIN 4i)2, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



wage hands, share croppers, and the operator or members of his 

 family. The labor cost was $] t.58 per acre, or 5.22 cents per pound 

 of lint produced. 



The expense for the use of the land was second in importance. It 

 included the cost of repairs, depreciation, taxes, insurance, and in- 

 terest upon the real estate investment. The cost was $6.52 per acre 

 of cotton, or 2.31 cents per pound of lint. 



The item next in importance was that for the fertilizer purchased. 

 It was $5.36 per acre, or 1.92 cents per pound of lint cotton. 



All the other costs connected with the production of this crop were 

 grouped under one heading as miscellaneous. There were included 

 such items as interest and depreciation on mules and machinery, 

 ginning, and other minor items, and amounted to $3.63 per acre, or 

 1.3 cents per pound of lint produced. 



COST OF PRODUCTION UNDER VARIOUS TENURES. 



Table XXIX show? the cost of producing cotton both per acre and 

 per pound of lint under the various tenures in vogue in Sumter 

 County. In five of the eight tenure classes the cost of production of 

 lint cotton falls within a range of from 10.29 cents to 10.95 cents 

 per pound of lint, or a variation of only 0.66 cent. The cost for 

 all tenures is 10.5 cents per pound and $27.71 per acre. 



Table XXIX, 



-Cost of producing cotton, all tenures, 53) farms, Sumter 

 County, Ga. 



Tenure. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Tilled 

 area per 

 , farm. 



Area in 



cotton 



per 



farm. 



Percent 

 of tilled 

 area in 

 cotton. 



Yield of 

 cotton 

 per acre 



iu 

 pounds. 



Cost of 

 produc- 

 ing 

 cotton 

 per acre. 



Cost of 

 produc- 

 ing cotton 

 per 

 pound 

 (lint). 



White: 



Owners 



160 

 38 

 70 

 49 



12 



11 



8 



180 



158 



211 



394 



85 



95 



82 



307 



59 



89 

 96 

 133 

 54 



57 



49 

 101 



56. 6 

 57.4 

 56.9 

 63.3 



59.8 

 63.5 

 62.1 

 65.5 



281 



285 

 271 

 228 



203 

 218 

 168 

 211 



S30. 74 

 27.57 

 29.97 

 23.79 



20.80 

 20.20 

 19. 39 

 22. 48 



Cents. 

 10. 95 

 9. 68 



Owner's part rented cat 



10.94 

 10.47 



Colored: 



10.29 





9.26 



Owners part rented cut 



11.50 

 10.64 







In a study of the three tenures with abnormal costs the factors 

 making up these abnormalities are easily detected. The colored 

 owners with part rented out have a cost of 11.5 cents per pound, 

 with a jdeld of only 168 pounds per acre. This high cost per pound 

 is almost entirely due to low yields per acre, for when farms in this 

 class are compared with farms of equal yields in the colored-owner 

 class the variation in cost per pound almost disappears. The fact 

 that 38 per cent of the cotton area on the owner-part-rentecl-out farms 



