s. c. 3 
with rare exceptions, wide deviations from it probably will be fol- 
lowed by reduced returns. 1 
For the sake of a short name the territory from which the data 
used in this bulletin were gathered will be called the Belton area, 
as Belton is one of the principal towns of the region and is centrally 
located in the area surveyed. 
In making the survey the average yield and average selling price 
of crops were recorded, not only for the then current year, but also 
for the five years prior to that of the survey (1914). The price of 
cotton for the year 1914, owing to the European war, was very low, 
and records based on that price would have been abnormal. For 
that reason, in computing the records, the average price of cotton for 
the five years prior to 1914 was used instead of the current price. 
The value of corn, oats, and cowpea hay was found to be practically 
the same in 1914 as the average of the previous five years, so lio 
substitution of prices was necessary for these crops. It was found 
that the average yields of the more important crops for 1914 and for 
the five-year average were practically the same. The survey rec- 
ords, therefore, can be taken as typical of the farms, and by using 
the normal price of cotton the results for 1914 can be considered as 
closely approximating the average conditions for the region. 
The 112 farms may be said to constitute a representative cross- 
section of the region. 
SUMMARY. 
The more important facts and conclusions brought out in this bul- 
letin are, in brief, as follows: 
Cost of producing the principal crops on the 112 farms studied: 
Cotton, 10.89 cents per pound gross lint; corn, $1 per bushel; oats, 
43.3 cents per bushel; oat hay, $13.88 per ton; and cowpea hay, 
$14.10 per ton. Cotton was produced at its market value when 
yields were 240 pounds of net lint per acre and corn when yields 
were 17 bushels per acre. 
Taking the crops as a whole, man labor was the largest item of 
cost and mule labor next. The rent of the land and the fertilizer 
cost were practically the same. 
The farms made 3.65 per cent on the investment, and after deduct- 
ing 8 per cent on the movable capital, the return on the investment 
in land and buildings was 3 per cent. 
In increasing the efficiency of these farms, yields constitute the 
most important factor. It has thrice the weight in the per cent 
return on the investment of the acres per work animal and four times 
the weight of combination of enterprises. 
1 Acknowledgments are due to Mr. C. E. Hope for making the partial correlation studies and for statis- 
tical assistance in compiling the material; also to the southern field men of the Office of Farm Manage- 
ment for assistance in securing the original data. 
Thanks are extended to the farmers for the uniform courtesy with which the field men were received 
while making the survey. 
