STUDY OP FARMING IN SUMTEE COUNT V, <;i.oi;< ,ia. 



59 



returned poor yields makes their yield per acre lower and their cost 

 per pound higher than that of the owner farms with only J7 per cent 

 of their cotton area returning poor yields. 



The white owners renting additional land have a lower cost per 

 pound and a slightly higher yield per acre than any other cla: 

 white operators. The table shows they have reduced the cost per 

 acre $3.14 and the cost per pound 1.28 cents below that of the white 

 owners. A more detailed study shows this reduction mainly and al- 

 most equally due to two items : First, the labor expense per acre of 

 cotton is about $1.50 per acre less; second, the combined charge of 

 interest on capital and rent paid for additional land is over $1.50 

 less per acre of cotton than the interest charge on the white owners' 

 capital. 



We find the colored owners additional occupying the same posi- 

 tion among the colored operators as the white owners additional 

 among the white operators, having the lowest cost per pound and 

 the highest yield per acre. They produce their cotton at 1.03 cents 

 per pound less than the colored owners. This difference is accounted 

 for by a yield of 15 pounds more per acre and by a little lower labor 

 cost per acre. 



COTTON 

 PRODUCTION COSTS 



PERCENTAGE 

 10 20 30 40 



oo •- ui 



•0 x z 



> 



LABOR 

 FERTILIZER 

 USE OF LAND 

 ALL OTHER 









^mmB&mmmmm$$$ 





ul £ 



£o < 



«> J Z 

 ~ «J 



LABOR 

 FERTILIZER 

 USE OF LAND 

 ALL OTHER 









NON-CASH 



Fig. 6. — Distribution of cash and non-cash costs in producing cotton on 268 owner 

 and 186 tenant farms. (Sumter County, Ga.) 



The accompanying chart (fig. 6) is interesting in connection with 

 this cost of production study. The production of lint cotton at 

 10.5 cents per pound with a yield of 258 pounds per acre means that 

 these men have been well paid for their year's labor and have re- 

 ceived a fair rate of interest upon their investment. In case of a 

 lean year cotton could be sold at a figure less than this cost, but it 

 would return less than normal wages for labor performed by the 

 operator and his family and less than a normal interest rate upon the 

 farm investment. 



