FARM-MANAGEMENT STUDY IN ANDERSON CO., S. C. 
11 
2. Labor income, which is what is left of the farm income after 
deducting a fair rate of interest on the investment. 
3. The rate of income on capital after deducting a fair amount for 
the operator's services. 
4. The cost of production per unit of measure. 
5. Net income per mule. In this bulletin this will represent the 
net income of both the labor and the investment in the animal. 
6. Yields per acre. 
These measures and a few others will be used as occasion requires 
in the following pages. If a farm ranks high when measured by all 
of these, it safely can be regarded as an efficient and successful farm. 
YIELDS. 
As has previously been stated, yields are the most important factor 
in determining the success of the farms in this area. In reducing the 
cost per unit of product, yields exert a greater influence than any other 
factor. 
Since cotton is by far the most important source of income on these 
farms, the acre yield of this crop is a very safe index of the efficiency 
of the farming. In Table V 110 of these farms were divided into 
groups based on the yield of net lint per acre. Nineteen of them had 
yields of 175 pounds or less. On these 19 farms the average cost of a 
pound of lint cotton was more than 15 cents. The income of these 
farms was not sufficient to pay expenses, so that after deducting the 
estimated value of the operator's services there was a net loss of 0.71 
per cent on the investment. In the next group, consisting of farms 
on which the yield was from 176 to 225 pounds per acre, cotton cost 
13.5 cents, and there was a profit of 2.54 per cent on the investment. 
As the yield increases the cost of lint cotton per pound decreases and 
the rate of income on investment increases. In the last group, where 
the yield is 326 pounds or more, the cost per pound falls to 9.6 cents, 
while the profit on the investment rises to 6.59 per cent. 
Table V. — Relation of yields of cotton to farm efficiency. 
Pounds of net lint cotton per acre. 
Number 
of farms. 
Average 
yield. 
Per cent 
return on 
invest- 
ment. 
Cost per 
pound of 
gross lint 
cotton. 
175 or less 
19 
24 
34 
19 
14 
Pounds, 
159 
198 
247 
305 
371 
10.71 
2.54 
4.45 
6.12 
6.59 
$0. 1554 
176 to 225 
.1353 
226 to 275 
.1170 
276 to 325 
.1108 
326 or more 
.0961 
1 Loss. 
Yields of corn have much less influence on the per cent return on 
investment than does cotton, as corn is a minor crop. But the 
influence of yield on the cost of production is just as marked with 
