16 
BULLETIN 659, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
hj owners with cropper labor, and 37.9 per cent is raised on share- 
rented land by wage labor. 
Table IV. — Acreage and yield of cotton tinder different tenures (114 farms, 
Ellis County, Tex., in 1914 j. 
Owner- 
wage 
Share- 
rent 
cotton. 
Cropper 
cotton. 
All 
cotton. 
Acreage 3, 922 
Per cent of total ' 40. 1 
Yield per acre (pounds lint) 257 
3,707 
37.9 
229 
2,152 
22.0 
231 
9,787 
100.0 
241 
The owner-wage cotton gave the highest yield per acre — 257 pounds 
of lint. Cropper cotton yielded 231 pounds and the share-rented 
cotton produced 229 pounds of lint per acre. The fact that cotton 
raised by owners with wage labor yielded best is accounted for partly 
by the fact that the crop received closer oversight than that produced 
by cropper labor. Further, the owned land is slightly better in 
quality than share-rented land, the estimated rent of owner-operated 
land being $5.19 per acre, while that of rented land is $4.92 per acre. 
Table V shows the cost of producing cotton under different tenures 
and under different labor systems. On 69 farms where owners pro- 
duce cotton with wage labor, the cost is 8.2 csnts per pound. The cost 
of the owner's half of the crop produced by cropper labor on 24 farms 
is 9.4 cents per pound, while the cropper's half costs the cropper only 
6.8 cents per pound. On 49 farms where cotton land is rented on 
shares the cost to the landlord for his share of the crop is 8.1 cents 
and the cost to the tenant for his share is 8.5 cents per pound. On 
these 49 farms four landlords received one-third of the cotton pro- 
duced by the tenants, while 45 landlords received one-fourth. 
Table V. — Average cost of cotton per pound under different tenures and labor 
systems (114 farms, Ellis County, Tex.). 
Owner- 
wage. 
Share-rent wage. 
Cropper. 
Aver- 
land- 
lord. 
Tenant. 
Avcr- 
• age. 
Owner- 
oper- 
ator. 
Crop- 
per. 
24 
6.8 
Aver- 
age. 
age of 
all 
cotton. 
Number of records 
8.2 
49 
8.1 
49 
8.5 
49 
8.4 
24 
9.4 
24 
8.1 
142 
8.3 
From the standpoint of cost of production it is seen that the cus- 
tomary rental of one-fourth of the cotton is reasonable and 'fair. In 
the half-and-half division of the cotton produced by cropper labor 
the heavier cost falls on the owner or operator, the difference being 
2.6 cents per pound. The margin of profit of the owner's share of 
