

BULLETIN 337, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 

 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. 



This investigation is based on 878 records which were secured from 

 planters or from managers of plantations and refer to the business of 

 several representative tenants on each plantation during the year 1913. 

 The information sought was comparatively easy to secure because the 

 transactions involved were few; nearly all of the cash income was 

 derived from the sale of cotton and of cotton seed and sometimes of corn, 

 while the items of expenditure were very largely confined to those for 

 feed and for hired labor, together with depreciation, repair, and insur- 

 ance charges on buildings and machinery. The investigation did not 

 cover loans or advances by planters to tenants, but was confined to the 

 study of the agricultural returns under the different methods of renting. 



The location of the farms from which records were secured is shown 

 by figures on the accompanying map (fig. 1). 



The records were secured in March and April, 1914, and referred to 



the crop year 1913. The cotton crop for that year was better than 



the average, and the corn crop was about average, being rather poor 



in the extreme southern part of the territory. Table II shows the 



average yield of cotton and of corn in each of the nine counties wholly 



included in the Delta, as reported by the Census for 1909, as estimated 



for 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913, and as found on the plantations visited 



during this investigation. For the entire territory the cotton yield on 



the land investigated was 0.66 bale per acre as compared with 0.47, the 



average for 1909-1913, while the corn yield was 24 bushels per acre in 



each case. 



Table II. 



County. 



Yield per acre of cotton (bales). 



Census 

 1909. 



Estimates. 



1910 



1913 



Average 

 1909-1913. 



Raised 

 in 1913 by 

 tenants 

 investi- 

 gated. 



Bolivar 



Coahoma 



Issaquena... 



Leflore 



Quitman 



Sharkey 



Sunflower . . . 



Tunica 



Washington . 



Average for 9 counties . 



Bolivar 



Coahoma 



Issaquena. . . 



Leflore 



Quitman 



Sharkey 



Sunflower . . . 



Tunica 



Washington. 



Average for 9 counties. 



0.38 

 .48 

 .49 

 .38 

 .50 

 .45 

 .40 

 .47 



20 



0.50 

 .45 

 .61 

 .44 

 .41 

 .52 

 .47 

 .33 

 .53 



0.33 

 .36 



.42 

 .40 

 .46 

 .32 

 .33 

 .45 

 .30 



0.58 

 .48 

 .50 

 .59 

 .62 

 .42 

 .59 

 .39 

 .50 



0.64 

 .55 

 .35 

 .64 

 .66 

 .56 

 .67 

 .42 

 .59 



0.49 

 .46 

 .47 

 .49 

 .53 

 .45 

 .49 

 .41 



.46 



.35 



.53 



.59 



Yield per acre of corn (bushels). 



(a) 



(») 





26 



25 

 35 

 20 



28 

 (») 



( b ) 



25 

 ( 6 ) 



26 



(») 



0.57 

 .71 

 .51 

 .69 

 .60 

 .63 

 .78 

 .52 

 .77 



.66 



a No figures available for 1910. 



b No data. 



