A FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN BROOKS CO., GA. 
17 
Table V. — Comparative yields and unit cost of crops by wage and cropper sys- 
tems {Brooks County, Ga.). 
Cotton. 
Corn (solid). 
Com (with 
peanuts). 
Peanuts 
(solid). 
Peanuts (with 
corn). 
Item. 
Wage 
sys- 
tem. 
Crop- 
per 
sys- 
tem. 
Wage 
sys- 
tem. 
Crop- 
per 
sys- 
tem. 
Wage 
sys- 
tem. 
Crop- 
per 
sys- 
tem. 
Wage 
sys- 
tem. 
Crop- 
per 
sys- 
tem. 
Wage 
sys-. 
tern. 
Crop- 
per 
sys- 
tem. 
93 
53 
47 
14 
77 
43 
49 
4 
76 
42 
Average yield of principal 
a 316 
a 272 
6 15 
6 13 
6 13 
6 12 
Pastured. 
Past 
Cost per unit of principal 
products: 
To cropper 
§6."d93" 
$0. OSO 
.097 
"io.'sY 
$0.48 
1.20 
"itif'67" 
$0.38 
.93 
$2.56 
7.53 
$1. 74 
.366 
Average or total for sys- 
tem 
.093 
.089 
.83 
.84 
.67 
.66 
11. 09 
10.09 
5.70 
5.40 
a Pounds of lint. 
6 Bushels. 
Under the wage system the average cost per pound of lint cotton 
is 9.3 cents, while under the cropper system the average cost to all 
parties concerned is 8.9 cents. But the share of the crop that goes 
to the operator costs the latter 9.7 cents a pound. From the stand- 
point of the laborer, the cropper system gives better financial re- 
sults. This is as it should be, for the cropper assumes a part of 
the risk incident to production, which the wage hand does not. In 
case of partial or total crop failure the cropper loses the use of all 
or part of his time, while the wage hand receives the same, or nearly 
the same, income as in normal years. 
In the case of corn, the total average cost is approximately the 
same by both systems, being 83 to 84 cents a bushel. But under the 
cropper system there is a wide divergence between the cost to cropper 
and operator of the share of the crop each receives. The cropper's 
share of the corn costs him only 48 cents a bushel (38 cents when 
interplanted with peanuts), while the operator's share of cropper 
corn costs the operator $1.20 (93 cents with peanuts in the corn). 
This divergence is so great that it is not surprising that many oper- 
ators who willingly accept share rent from croppers for cotton insist 
on cash rent for land devoted to corn, with the result that on cotton 
plantations generally a much larger ' proportion of corn than of 
cotton is grown under 'the wage system. 
The major part of the operator's share of the cost of the cropper's 
* crops consists of work stock, labor, and the use of the land. The. 
details of these oats are shown in Table XX (see p. 52). It should 
be borne in mind throughout this publication that the term " costs " 
covers every charge, including cost of supervision and wages for the 
farmer, the cropper ? and their families, 
