KAUAI MANAGEMENT STUDY OF COTTON FARMS. 9 
borers — men, women, and children. A class of laborers known as 
croppers 1 or "half hands" are generally of the white race, but a 
considerable number are colored. Croppers are employed in han- 
dling more than 20 per cent of the cotton of the county-. (See 
Table IV.) The transient labor is practically all colored and re- 
mains in the towns, except during the chopping and picking seasons. 
Cotton picking is done almost entirely by contract, the price paid 
per hundred pounds being determined largely by the quality and 
yield of cotton. 
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. 
Ellis County was organized in 1894, being formerly a part of 
Navarro County. The first settlement was made near Forreston 
about 1844. The early settlers came chiefly from Tennessee, Georgia, 
and the Carolinas, and more than half of the present population of 
nearly 54,000 is directly descended from these emigrants. There are 
some foreign-born citizens and their descendants in the county, Bo- 
hemians, Hungarians, and Germans comprising the greater part of 
this element. There is a considerable number of negroes in the 
county, mostly confined to the towns. Prior to 1865 practically the 
only enterprises were the production of cattle and sheep. Wheat 
was first produced about 1850, but did not become important until 
about 1880. During this period grain crops were raised on the up- 
land and cotton made its first appearance in the bottoms along the 
streams. All crop land was under fence until 1901, when the fence 
law was repealed. Alfalfa was first raised in the bottom of Mustang 
Creek in 1890 and in 1896 it was produced in the Elm Thicket section. 
A very little cotton was produced in the county before 1860. The 
first gin in operation consisted of a handmade two-roller outfit run 
by hand. This was superseded by a power gin about 1881. From 
the very beginning of the production of cotton the acreage of this 
crop has increased, entirety supplanting the range at the present 
time. The boll weevil caused some damage in Ellis County about 
1903, following which considerable more attention was given to feed 
and grain crops. From this period to the present, however, there has 
been little damage to cotton from this source. 
Table I shows the trend of .development in Ellis County from 1850 
to the present. The area of the county is 587,520 acres, of which only 
2.600 acres were improved land in 1850. From that date to the pres- 
ent the development of crop farming has been rapid and uniform, 
446.194 acres being improved in 1910. Cotton has held the largest 
place in the cropping system, developing from 52,172 acres in 1880 
to 274,666 acres in 1910. Corn has made advances parallel with 
1 For definition cf cropper see p. 2. 
41617°— IS— Bull. G59 2 
