46 



BULLETIN 1034, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



prices show a decided decline for 1920. The year 1914 brought dis- 

 astrous prices for cotton, although, considering the increase in cost 

 of production, it is probable that 1920 was about as bad. Cotton 

 shows the widest range in price, from T.8 cents per pound in 1914 to 

 37.4 cents in 1919. The price of cattle was very low over the entire 

 period, averaging only $4.13 hundredweight for the period 1911 to 

 1915, and $6.55 per hundredweight for the period 1915 to 1920. 



AVERAGE FARM PRICE 

 GEORGIA, 1911-1920 



AVERAGE FOR FIVE YEAR PERIOD 1911-1915=100 



J 



Fig. 7.— The farm prices of cotton and cotton seed varied somewliat during the period 

 1911 to 1915, while those of the otlier products were rather uniform. The prices of 

 most products were highest in 1919, with decided declines in 1920. Cotton and cotton 

 seed reached relatively higher prices than the other products. 



DIVERSITY. 



Cotton is the major enterprise in Sumter County, but there was 

 more or less diversity of crops even in 1913, though, as already 

 pointed out, there was greater tendency to crop diversification in 1918 

 than in 1913. 



Perhaps the first consideration in a discussion of diversity in the 

 organization of these cotton farms should be the growing of products 

 for family use, for supplying feed for the work stock, and rations 

 for the large amount of labor necessary in the operation of such 

 farms. More or less of such products were grown on all the farms 

 under study, but on many of them not enough were grown to meet all 

 the requirements in the operation of the farm. White farmers pro- 

 duced more for family use, feed, and rations, than colored farmers, 

 and all farms produced more in 1918 than in 1913. 



