THE COST OF PRODUCING COTTON. 1L33 
‘OVERHEAD EXPENSE. 
There are certain costs in the operation of a farm that are not 
directly chargeable to any special enterprise, but they are applicable 
to the farm as a whole and they must be carried by the respective 
crop or live-stock enterprises in proportion to the magnitude of these 
enterprises. very farm possesses some unproductive land which 
forms a part of the total capital investment. Interest and taxes must 
be paid upon this portion of the investment. Furthermore, such 
items as telephone service, building maintenance, and miscellaneous 
cash expenses must be apportioned to the farm as a whole. In areas 
where detailed farm accounting records are available, some sugges- 
tions can be made concerning the percentage of the farm expense 
that does not appear to be directly chargeable to single enterprises, 
but must be considered under the heading of ‘‘Overhead expense.”’ 
Practically no detailed farm accounting work has been done in the 
Cotton Belt. Consequently, the necessary facts with reference to 
percentage of overhead common to typical areas of this region have 
not been made available. In this study a 10 per cent charge was 
taken of the total labor and material costs and this was included 
under the general heading “Overhead expense.’’ Table VIII contains 
a summary of such costs as use of land, insurance and taxes, use of 
machinery, and overhead. 
TasBLeE VIII.—Summary of other costs (842 records). 
Other costs per acre. 
Num- Total WIA | —————$ —— = cael cue 
State and county. ber of number of lint cure per 
eles BO Re per Use of | ance Ma- Over- ound 
ords. | . cotton. acre. x é chin- Total. | Leu 
land. and ae head. of lint. 
taxes. y: | 
Hy emo e | 
Georgia: Pounds. 
Laurens County....... 85 | 3,968.0 277 | $7.38} $0.30] $1.69 | $5.77 | $15.14 | $0.0546 
Greene County.......- 78| 4,147.5 260 7.47 SC 1. 64 5.70} 14.98 . 0576 
Sumter County........ 80 4,188.5 244 6. 76 20) 1.62 4.81 13. 44 . 0551 
Atabama: 
Tallapoosa County..... 89 1,169.0 172 3.10 .13 1.59 5.97 10. 79 . 0626 
Marshall County....... 90} 1,249.5 227 9. 32 . 25 2. 63 6.82} 19.02 . 0840 
Dale County........... 90 1, 226.5 194 5. 25 . 20 1.63 5. 32 12.40 . 0640 
South Carolina: ‘ 
Anderson County...... 89 2, 865. 5 248 11.80 - 28 1.57 5. 84 19.49 . 0786 
a Barnwell County ...... 91 | 3,935.5 268 Use? 15 1.67 6.24 | 15.28 . 0571 
exas: 
Ellis County........... 75 8, 148.0 176 16. 83 | . 44 1.48 2.31 21.06 . 1193 
Rusk County.......-.. 75 | 2,568.0 185 5.15 . 28 1.72 3.87] 11.02 . 0594 
The most important item in this group 1s the cost for the use of land. 
It will be seen that there is a range from $3.10 per acre in Tallapoosa 
County, Ala., to $16.83 per acre in Ellis County, Tex. Overhead 
expense is the second item of importance under ‘Other costs.” 
Under this heading there was a variation in the average cost from $2.31 
to $6.82 per acre. The unit cost for all of the items which have been 
mentioned varied from 5 cents per pound to approximately 12 cents 
