40 
BULLETIN" -648, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The above percentages of the crop area in the different crops are 
very close to the average for all of the farms studied, though there 
is a wide range in the proportions found on the different farms. 
Likewise, when the 25 farms showing the best returns are selected, 
it is found that the crop areas are divided in proportions very 
closely approaching those found to be the most profitable in the 
above tabulation. 
Elsewhere it has been pointed out that since this survey was made 
the cotton-boll weevil has invaded the county, and it can not be 
doubted that the proper organization of the farms has been to a 
large extent changed thereby. Whether or not the proportion of 
land in cotton found by this study to be most profitable will continue 
to be so under boll-weevil conditions can not be answered by the 
data at hand. It is certain, however, that the cost and hazard of 
growing the crop have been greatly increased, especially in this 
immediate section, where the mild winters and heavy summer rain- 
fall favor the work of the weevil considerably more than do condi- 
tions even a short distance farther north in the State. In other 
infested areas with similar soil and climatic conditions, but where 
cotton has been more exclusively relied upon as the source of the 
farm income, a reduction in the proportion of land in cotton will 
likely be necessary. To the farmers in such areas, this study of the 
diversified farms of Brooks County should be of considerable value. 
Table XVII. — Relation of swine raising to farm profits (Brooks County, Ga.). 
Number of hogs per 100 acres crop land. 
Number 
of farms. 
Average 
number 
of hogs 
per 100 
acres 
crop land. 
Index of 
earnings. 
Per cent 
return on 
invest- 
ment. 
Less than 20 
19 
42 
26 
19 
18.8 
32.4 
50.3 
74.1 
92 
94 
97 
124 
5.1 
20 to 40 
5.1 
40 to 60 
7.0 
8.6 
106 
41.8 
100 
6.2 
The presence of the boll weevil in the region of this survey must 
mean for many of the farmers a reduction in the proportion of 
the land planted to cotton. The question of what to substitute for 
the cotton displaced is a serious problem, a partial answer to which 
is found in Table XVII. The farms have here been grouped on 
the basis of the number of hogs kept per 100 acres of crop land. 
The group of farms with less than 20 hogs per 100 acres returned 
earnings equal to but 92 per cent of those from farms of a similar 
size, but as the number of hogs increased the returns increased. The 
farms with more than 60 hogs per 100 acres, or an average of 74.1, 
gave earnings 21 per cent higher than the average. Likewise, the 
. 
