A FARM MANAGEMENT SUKVEY IN" BROOKS CO., GA. 15 
usually a house and often a garden plot are furnished. Much labor 
is also hired by the day during certain seasons, and it is very com- 
mon to hire by the "piece," the units being 100 pounds of cotton 
picked, an acre of crop "chopped" or hoed, a bushel of peanuts 
harvested or shelled, etc. Much of the day and "piece" work is 
done by women and children. 
CROPPER SYSTEM. 
Under the cropper system the laborer usually receives, in lieu of 
a cash wage, one-half share of crops he grows, and he is charged 
with half the cost of the fertilizer, ginning, bagging and ties, and 
sometimes half of the cost of seed used. The operator furnishes 
everything else, including work stock and all tools and equipment. 
In some cases the operator keeps all the cotton seed and in return 
does not charge the cropper for any of the fertilizer. Several other 
minor variations in the contract occur. In Brooks County the crop- 
per is usually required to plant peanuts between the rows of the 
greater part of his corn. The peanut crop is almost always pas- 
tured off by hogs, only sufficient seed being gathered to replace that 
used for planting. In some instances the operator buys the cropper's 
share of the peanut pasture, but more commonly the cropper must 
have his own hogs to gather his crop if he is to profit by it. 
By many persons the cropper is mistaken for a share tenant. 
But in this section, at least, he is regarded as a wage hand who re- 
ceives his wages in the form of a share of the crop. He furnishes 
nothing but labor and is under practically as close supervision in 
the management of his crop as is the laborer employed for a fixed 
wage. 
Most of the hired labor on these farms, both wage hands and 
croppers, are colored. Both labor systems are found on exactly 
half of the farms, including practically all the larger ones. The 
operator usually prefers the wage system and the laborer the crop- 
per system. The reasons for these preferences will appear later 
in this discussion. The cropper is ordinarily considered to be a 
somewhat higher grade of laborer than is the wage hand. 
Table IV shows the average cropper's receipts, expenses, and net 
income per cropper, cotton being figured at the average 5-year 
price, as it is throughout this publication. 
27202°— 18— Bull. 648 3 
