FARM MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 



15 



sidered, the land rented out being eliminated entirely from the busi- 

 ness of the farms operated by the owners. 



No farms were encountered in this survey which were rented 

 entirely for cash, all rented land in cotton being operated on the 

 share basis. This condition may be accounted for as follows: A 

 glance at the curve in figure 9 (p. 32) shows that from 1903 to 

 1914 three crops of cotton were failures or nearly so, namely, those 

 of 1905, 1907, and 1909, which is a failure once in four years on 

 the average. Where there are frequent failures, and where there is 

 such a wide variation in yield (310 pounds in 1906 to 125 pounds in 

 1909), as indicated by the curve above referred to, it is impossible 

 to establish any cash rental value that will be equitable to both land- 

 lord and tenant. Thus it has come about that practice has estab- 

 lished that land rented for cotton is on the basis of one- fourth share 

 to the landlord. By this system there is less hardship on either the 

 landlord or tenant from a failure of the crop, a matter over which 

 neither has any control. Where a large yield is secured, the land- 

 lord makes a high rent and the tenant gets proportionately high 

 returns. When the yield is poor, both share the misfortune, but the 

 tenant's rent is low in proportion to his returns. 



The three leading tenure systems, i. e., owner-operator, share 

 renter, and share-cash renter, were found on a sufficient number of 

 farms to justify the drawing of certain conclusions from their 

 averages. 



Table III. — Percentage of crop area in different crops under different tenure 

 systems (79 farms, Ellis County, Tex., in 191J/). 



Tenure system. 



Owner wage 



Share renters 



Share-cash renters 

 All farms 



Number 



Per cent of crop area in specified crops. 













of farms. 



Cotton. 



Corn. 



Oats 



(grain). 



Oat hay. 



Other 

 crops. 



37 



67.2 



15.2 



2.7 



5.2 



9.S 



24 



73.7 



14.9 



2.6 



4.6 



4.3 



IS 



79.0 



12.1 



1.2 



2.7 



5.1 



79 



72.5 



13.3 



2.8 



3.8 



6.5 



Per cent 

 of crop 

 acreage 

 in sec- 

 ond 

 crops. 



1.3 

 .6 

 .6 



Table III shows the percentage of crop area in the principal crops 

 under these three leading tenure systems. It is seen that the owner 

 farms have less cotton and more feed crops than farms under either 

 of the tenant systems. Further, the table shows that the owners 

 grow second crops slightly more than do the tenants. On the tenant 

 farms all cotton is share rented and a part or all of the grain and 

 feed crops on the share-cash rent farms is cash rented. 



Table IV shows that of the 9,781 acres of cotton produced on these 

 farms, 40.1 per cent is raised by owners with wage labor, 22 per cent 





