UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 648 
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY. ^jj. 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management. 
W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief. 
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Washington, D. C. 
May 1, 1918 
A FARM-MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS 
COUNTY, GEORGIA. 
By E. S. Haskell, Assistant Agriculturist. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Description of area surveyed 1 
Method and scope of investigation 5 
Type of farming 7 
Tenure and landlord's profits 13 
Labor systems 14 
Page. 
Size of business 18 
Quality of farm business , 20 
Organizat ion 30 
Cost of production 41 
DESCRIPTION OF AREA SURVEYED. 
Brooks County is located in the southern part of the coastal plain, 
just west of the center of the southern tier of counties in Georgia, 
about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The area covered by this 
survey is in the southern half of the county, bordering on the Florida 
State line. The location is shown by the shaded portion of the map, 
figure l. 1 
This area was selected for study because here has been developed 
a diversified and profitable type of agriculture, with cotton retained 
as the chief single source of income. For years these farmers have 
developed the swine industry and the production on the farm of the 
products consumed in the home to a point that has been equaled in 
but few places in the South. It is believed that the type of farming 
found here embodies features that might with profit be adopted in 
many parts of the cotton belt. This is particularly true now that 
the recent rapid advance of the cotton-boll weevil into this section 
has forced many farmers to face the necessity of reorganizing their 
farms upon a basis involving less dependence than. hitherto upon the 
1 For assistance in collecting the data upon which this study is based, acknowledgment 
is due to Messrs. M. A. Crosby, C E. Hope, A. G. Smith, and F. D. Stevens, of the staff 
of the Office of Farm Management.; to J. M. Purdom, Jr., temporarily employed by the 
Office of Farm Management ; and to Messrs. S. H. Starr and E. C Westbrook, of the 
faculty of the Georgia State College of Agriculture. Special acknowledgment is due 
Prof. Starr, who also assisted in tabulating the data, 
27202°— 18— Bull. 648—1 
