48 BULLETIN 896, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
make a living in any other way. They will continue to produce 
cotton even though the returns fail to pay the wages they might 
obtain by hiring out and the rent they could get by letting their 
farms to other men. 
The keeping of cost records will enable the farm operator to make 
frequent adjustments between the various enterprises which make 
up the entire farm business. Without these records, and the inform- 
ation which they convey, it will be impossible to single out the enter- 
prise that is giving the lowest profit or what may perchance be taking 
the farm account into the loss column. <A knowledge of what is hap- 
pening will assist perceptibly inpreventingsubstantiallosses. Futher- 
more, if adjustments are made in the farm business in order to increase 
profits, the operators concerned will reap their rewards not so much 
in the gains that may be obtained in any one season, but in the greater 
stability of the business as a whole, and in the more uniform returns 
that will be apparent from year to year. 
RANGE IN PRICE. 
Tt has been pointed out that the average cost of producing cotton 
on the 842 farms was 23 cents per pound. The range in cost Was 
extremely wide (8 cents to $1.07 per pound), but the bulk of the cot- 
ton was produced at a cost of 28 cents per pound or less. Consider- 
able variation was also noted in connection with the prices these 
farmers received for their cotton. It was not possible to secure com- 
plete information in this regard, since when the records were taken 
a part of the crop was still unsold. However, in order to determine 
the approximate receipts from cotton, the unsold portion was valued 
at the price which obtained when the account was closed. The aver- 
age price received by these farmers for their 1918 cotton, as computed 
in this way, was about 29 cents per pound. The range in prices 
received is shown in Table XLVITI. 
TasBLeE XLVII.— Variation in price per pound received for cotton lint. 
[Cotton given as rent considered as sold.] 
| Cumula- | | Cumula- 
tive per tive per 
Price per pound of lint. ound: cent of Price per pound oflint. | Pounds cent ol 
ele nee eer eee DE OCUIC=e II yi wa cee eprodue- 
| tion sold. | | tion sold. 
Under 20icentshe== see 79, 230 | 1.45) @30CenbSeieca= so eae oe ae edna Oe 17.9 
20 cents. sae sae eee 30, 875 | TOS TCents =r es eee ee eee OO 85.7 
ZI CONES a= ee | 41,062 1 OES 2CONLS seen ae ee eee 450, 673 93.5 
22iCCNItS hea ae ae ee | 23, 450 DESH | (Poot CCT USE sane ne 173, 684 96.5 
23 ' cents sai ae 28, 465 OUSE AS ACen tesa a tee eee re 83, 618 97.9 
ZAI CONUS | ee eee ees | 77, 215 Acie GOOLE CIS ane ee ee es 83, 104 99.3 
20 \CeNtS® eee een ee eee 700,178 GSD CO OCCT S mee aa se eee es 34, 846 99.9 
26 {CONtS ake oe ene eee ae | 177, 483 19.3: SA Cents <4. Moses A Pe 5, 250 100.0 
ZiKCENtS Ao eee eons 369, 254 25 (a| | POS CEILS = wre teers aes a 525 100.0 
28icentis: a2 ek See 880, 152 | 40:9. ABi cents 4 on ae ave eres 21,500 100.0 
29 cents. ....- Been) Sy 511, 295 | 49.7 || | 
I] | 
Total cotton sold, 5,795,448 pounds, representing 76.3 per cent of production. 
Total cotton held 1,804,474 pounds, representing 23.7 per cent of production. 
a ess than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 
