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= BULLETIN 337, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF 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. 
Taseno ld. 
Yield per acre of cotton (bales). 
County | Estimates. eee 
| Census Average |/™ ¥ 
| 1909. 1909-1913, tenants 
1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 Inv esi 
gated 
| 
Bolivar tee are eet ements | 0.38] 0.80] «0.33/ 0.58] 0.64] 0.49 0.57 
Coshomans 262s es eee 48 45 36 | 48 a0 46 71 
ISsAquenas tease Se soe Sse so oas 8 . 49 - 61 49 50 .35 47 51 
WeMOTehckk cocker sce see eee a ek eS -38 44 - 40 | -d9 . 64 . 49 . 69 
Quitman ea ee ae eine nena -50 .41 . 46 - 62 . 66 ag: . 6 
Sharkéys toc < \ eie eeS SeS ae | +45 Bb Daly tet 269 42 .56 45 63 
Sunflower. ...--.---- We eae eee a eraieinres oa ee - 40 47 -33 59 . 67 .49 78 
BF aTGA ese cea ee NE ls oa .33 45 .39 .42 41 52 
Washtne lone s ss. 24s a Sea ee 49 53 -30 | -50 59 48 Th 
Average for 9 counties............. | 243 | 46 | .35 .53 59 AT 66 
Yield per acre of corn (bushels). 
Bolivaret) se esses oer ee eer ee [ee Gy | = oe |e oes eae 26 19 
CoahOma nse a5 Sekt cee | 23 (2) 20 35 22 25 28 
TSSAQUCNIA gs See es eae eee ok os meee 19 (a) 27 20 10 19 23 
Leflore... 3 see oS ee bee ee 18 (2) 25 28 20 23 23 
Qinciian Gate eee 22| (a) (b) (>) (b) 29 22, 
Ghapkeyesin eon ke Bt Su re ee 19| (a) 33. | (0) 18 23 21 
SUNT OW ET os oes eee oe le ee 22 a) 28 25 35 28 22 
Manica ete eo ee ee eee 22] (2) | () (>) 20 22 32 
Wiashinghonee. =. 2 ot ee ae ee ere 2 See 20 (a) (0) 19 22 20 28 
Average for 9 counties -—- 2.2... .2._.- 20 | (2) “I 26 | 26 | 24 | 24 24 
a No figures available for 1910. b No data. 
