LAND TENURE AND PLANTATION ORGANIZATION 67 
When the landlord operates his own refinery, several bases are used 
in determining the contract price of the cane produced by the tenant. 
If the marketing contract is made in connection with the leasing agree- 
ment, the price paid for cane is discounted to take care of the land 
rental. For example, when the prevailing price paid for cane is "90 
cents a cent" per ton (based on the price of sugar at the time of 
delivery), the contract price between landlord and tenant would 
probably be "70 cents a cent." The difference between the two 
prices mentioned is equivalent to the share of the crop charged as 
rent. In some cases, the landlord charges a fourth of the crop as 
rental and pays the tenant for his share the refinery's price of $1 a 
cent per ton. The same landlord, if he charged a fifth share for rent, 
would probably pay the tenant only 90 cents a cent or less for cane. 
Where the landlord and tenant contract separately for the market- 
ing of the product and for the use of the land, the current prices paid 
to outsiders is allowed the tenant for his cane. Some plantation 
operators are known to allow the tenant a percentage of the sugar 
content of the cane, as, for example, 70 pounds of " P. Y. C. " (brown) 
sugar per ton. Since sugar cane is supposed to yield about 90 pounds 
per ton, no additional charge is made in such cases for the use of the 
land. This method corresponds to the purchase of the cane at " 70 
cents a cent" in the sense of discounting the quantity of the product 
for rental. This plan, however, fails to include the feature of a 
" graduated scale" price, as provided by the method first mentioned. 
During the harvest season the tenant usually receives a weekly 
statement or check for the cane delivered. The price allowed is the 
average price for the week quoted by the New Orleans Sugar Ex- 
change. Discounts are made for cane which fails to measure up to the 
standard of sugar content provided for in the contract. If the cane is 
produced within hauling distance of the refinery, it must be delivered 
there, or, if it is not within hauling distance, the cane must be placed 
on board the train or barge. 
CONCLUSIONS 
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that the plantation has 
certain distinctive characteristics. The most important of these are 
the degree of centralization in management of factors of production, 
the degree of specialization in staple crop production as distinguished 
from the more or less self-sufficing small farm, and the degree of con- 
trol exercised over the labor and product. The system was founded 
on the basis of cheap land, cheap labor, and climatic conditions 
favorable to the production of the staple crops. The system has 
continued partly by inertia, partly because of its efficiency, and 
partly because some of the conditions that made for its establishment 
and growth still remain. Its usefulness, under existing conditions, 
lies in its ability to make profitable use of land which could not be 
economically employed in small tracts, and to give profitable employ- 
ment to labor that is not capable of economical production under 
self-direction. The weakness of the system lies largely in the prac- 
tice of exploiting the land for immediate money returns and in the 
tendency to perpetuate large-scale farming and tenancy as against 
giving encouragement to smaller owner-operated farms. 
