24 BULLETIN 659, U. ft. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Ninety-one per cent of the farms have no wheat and 93 per cent have 

 no alfalfa. 



The case is somewhat similar with food stuffs. Cotton growers 

 too often depend on buying them, when they could produce them on 

 the farm with little extra expense. Even where cotton is the only 

 farm product that can be relied on as a source of income, it is un- 

 doubtedly good practice to produce the food and feed required on 

 the farm as largely as possible, and the best farmers do so. 



Because of the time required to obtain from the farmer the details 

 necessary to an analysis of the farm business, it is not practicable 

 at the same time to get a financial account of what the farm furnishes 

 toward the family living. The latter is a separate study. No such 

 study has been made in Ellis County, though one has been made in 

 McLennon Count} 7 , where conditions are somewhat similar. In this 

 region, as in all regions devoted to a one-sided system of farming, 

 farmers often neglect the opportunity they have to produce an 

 abundance and variety of food. As a result the family lives largely 

 on materials bought at the stores. This is one of the evils of a one- 

 crop system. Even if it were true, as many cotton farmers claim, 

 that they can raise cotton and sell it and buy fruits, vegetables, and 

 poultry and dairy products cheaper than they could raise them, the 

 fact remains that unless they are produced on the farm the family 

 will not have them in abundance, and what they do buy is not of as 

 high quality as that produced at home. 



Table X. — Percentage of total receipts from different sources in JDI.'/. (115 

 farms, Ellis County, Tex.) 



Tcr cent. 



Cotton : 8(5 



< !orn 2 



other crops 3.4" 



Stock 5. 6 



Increase feed and supplies 1.3 



Miscellaneous • 1. 6 



Table X shows the sources from which the income is derived. 

 With 8G per cent of the receipts from cotton, it is clear that cotton is 

 the all-important enterprise of every farm. 



Alfalfa was found on 8 of the farms studied. The yield of cotton 

 per acre on these farms was greater than on farms where no 

 alfalfa was produced. Indications seem to point to the future pro- 

 duction of larger areas of alfalfa, not to displace cotton, but to in- 

 crease the yield of cotton and also the net returns of the farms. 

 There is no doubt that the production of alfalfa will greatly improve 

 the fertility of the soil. It is unfortunate that there are not more 

 farms in the alfalfa groups in order that more definite conclusions 

 might be drawn. 



